Sinking of the Titan submersible

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On June 18, 2023 OceanGate’s submersible Titan, which was carrying five people on a dive down to the site of the Titantic, imploded and sank – killing all aboard. There is a Wikipedia page about it titled 2023 Titan submersible incident. An article by Tony Perrottet in the Smithsonian on June 2019 is titled A deep dive into the plans to take tourists to the ‘Titanic’. There is a historical time line in another article by Dinah Voyles Pulver at USA Today on June 22, 2023 titled Patents, lawsuits, safety concerns – then tragedy. A timeline of OceanGate’s Titan sub. An NPR article by Rachel Treisman on June 23, 2023 is titled James Cameron says the Titan passengers probably knew the submersible was in trouble.

 

OceanGate removed their web site. But their boastful archived OceanGate web page about Titan says:

 

“Titan 5-Person Submersible | 4,000 meters

Titan is a Cyclops-class manned submersible designed to take five people to depths of 4,000 meters (13,123 feet) for site survey and inspection, research and data collection, film and media production, and deep sea testing of hardware and software. Through the innovative use of modern materials, Titan is lighter in weight and more cost efficient to mobilize than any other deep diving submersible. A combination of ground-breaking engineering and off-the-shelf technology gives Titan a unique advantage over other deep diving subs; the proprietary Real Time Hull Health Monitoring (RTM) systems provides an unparalleled safety feature that assesses the integrity of the hull throughout every dive. The use off-the-shelf components helped to streamline the construction, and makes it simple to operate and replace parts in the field.

Paired with a patented, integrated launch and recovery platform, Titan is easy to operate in varying sea states using a local appropriately sized ship for the project. In coastal waters this means we do not need a large support ship with a crane or A-frame.

Real-Time Health Monitoring

 

The most significant innovation is the proprietary real-time hull health monitoring (RTM) system. Titan is the only manned submersible to employ an integrated real-time health monitoring system. Utilizing co-located acoustic sensors and strain gauges throughout the pressure boundary, the RTM system makes it possible to analyze the effects of changing pressure on the vessel as the submersible dives deeper, and accurately assess the integrity of the structure. This onboard health analysis monitoring system provides early warning detection for the pilot with enough time to arrest the descent and safely return to surface.”

 

Obviously the hull health monitoring system (RTM) did not perform properly. Yet another article by Pallab Ghosh at BBC News on June 23, 2023 is titled Titan investigation: How will they find out what happened? Analysis of the origin and cause of failure would rely on examination of the failed hull fragments, which may or may not be eventually recovered. There is a detailed article by E. S. Greenhalgh and M. J. Hiley from 2007 titled Fractography of polymer composites: current status and future issues.

 

The schematic of Titan was adapted from this one at Wikimedia Commons. 

 

UPDATE June 28, 2023

There is a June 27, 2023 New York Magazine article by David Pogue titled What I learned on a Titanic sub expedition. And there is a June 28, 2023 article at ABC News by Meredith Deliso titled Debris from Titan submersible brought ashore after catastrophic implosion.