The Titan submarine disaster captured global attention in the summer of 2023 after an explosion claimed the lives of five people in the heart of the Atlantic Ocean. While the details of this incident remain shrouded in mystery, new information has emerged indicating that the submarine's carbon fiber structure was responsible for the explosion.
A civil engineering expert stated that the internal explosion that the famous submarine experienced in June of last year, which resulted in the loss of its crew, may be attributed to the occurrence of "microscopic indentations" in its carbon fiber structure, as reported by the New York Post. Researchers from the University of Houston and the University of Minnesota believe that the "minute indentation" in the Titan's structure might have been the catastrophic trigger that led to its collapse under pressure.
Roberto Ballarini, team leader and professor of civil and environmental engineering, remarked: "The safety of Titan may have been compromised due to damage sustained by the materials used in its structure that accumulated over its numerous trips before the collapse." He explained, "The material used in constructing Titan's hull was a composite made of carbon fiber. It is known that under the pressure of deep diving, the fibers in such composite materials are prone to infinitesimal indentations."
He continued, "If the Titan's structure sustained such damage under extreme pressure during the dive, its rigidity and strength would significantly decrease, alongside inevitable engineering flaws that emerged during its manufacturing, which may have contributed to its internal collapse due to indentation."
The study, published last month in the academic journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), employed a form of virtual computational simulation to create a mathematical model capable of making several predictions about how and when these small defects can lead to catastrophic destruction.
Unlike most submarines that traverse the deep seas, which are made of strong metals such as titanium, the hull of the Titan submarine is comprised of a fragile cylindrical structure made from carbon fiber and is capped at both ends with titanium domes.
Rush Stokes, the founder of OceanGate, the American company that owned the ill-fated Titan, acknowledged that he may have "violated some rules" by using those materials but stressed that reality would prove his choice correct, arguing that the relatively low cost of carbon fiber and its inherent buoyancy would make deep-sea exploration more commercially viable and sustainable.
However, the former director of marine operations at OceanGate expressed concern that those small defects in the structure might evolve into "large cracks" due to repeated changes in water pressure, potentially resulting in a sudden destruction of the submarine.
It is noteworthy that on June 18 of last year, the crew of the Titan tourist submarine disappeared while descending to the wreck of the Titanic. On board were British billionaire Hamish Harding (58 years old), British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood (48 years old) and his son Suleman, as well as French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet (77 years old) and the founder and CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, Rush Stokes, on a trip that cost each of them $250,000, and most importantly, their lives.
Later, it was announced that the submarine had exploded in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, resulting in the death of all its occupants, while its wreckage was recovered and an investigation was opened to determine the cause of the catastrophic incident.
