Tourist mini sub missing off titanic - Page 5

greglepore · 06-20-2023, 04:04 PM

NPR interviewed a guy who went on a trip in this thing-he referred to the control systems as "janky", ie. the thrusters were controlled by an actual video game joystick. Not that it didn't work, but it wasn't Woods Hole type stuff.

Crowbob · 06-20-2023, 05:10 PM

I’m pretty sure there is no circumstance wherein I would allow myself to be sealed inside an air and water tight titanium and carbon fiber tube with sixteen bolts from the outside.

Actually, I’m absolutely sure there is no circumstance.

What horror.

sc_rufctr · 06-20-2023, 05:34 PM

Meanwhile they're running out of air!

stealthn · 06-20-2023, 05:41 PM

It’s very sad, even if they did find them, I doubt they’d be able to get it to the surface in time.

aschen · 06-20-2023, 05:46 PM

Surely there is an emergency fresh air port that can be activated from inside if the somehow manage to surface

otto_kretschmer · 06:03 PM

here is a retired sonar girl who's 2nd career is a youtuber

according to the chief (aaron) this craft was made from carbon fiber with a titanium hatch

my opinion is just as good as anyone here but..

I am a Navy veteran, I was on a submarine, I did get a BSME after I got out, I have some design experience in composite materials, and I have played around with carbonfiber and fiberglass making parts for my motorcycles

I would never ever never get on board a submarine made out of graphite reinforced plastic, aka carbon fiber. No no no no no....

The basic structure in compression is probably sound but what about all the joints and fasteners that are needed to make the craft? O-ring grooves, threaded fasteners in the hull?

No Effing Way squared

unclebilly · unclebilly's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by unclebilly

How does the submersible find the titanic?

Imagine being blindfolded in an empty field at dark with a cross wind and try to make it to a gate 2 miles away…

Without some form of onboard sonar, how do they know which way to go?

Ok so they have SONAR…

But look at this other photo…

Why are there dents like that in the hull liner?

The swagelok valves on the thruhulls (bulkhead fittings) and amateur looking tube fitting would concern me…

Hopefully this last image is the prototype as opposed to Titan.

I see where they were going with this… kinda like an undersea version of SpaceX… lower cost of entry. SpaceX hasn’t killed anyone yet that I am aware of.

otto_kretschmer · 06-20-2023, 06:24 PM

Stockton Rush is the founder of Ocean Gate and it appears he was on board the missing submersible.

I'm a little angry right now. It seems Rush was woke and he didn't want his company to be full of 50 year old ex military guys. He wanted his company to look inspirational.

You can go to the 5:20 mark in the video I posted.

unclebilly · unclebilly's Garage

Thank you for posting that video. It’s worse than I expected.

Amateurs led my a narcissist… whatever assets Ocean Gate and Mr.Rush had won’t bring back the other 4 souls on board.

I’m thinking the bond between the 5” thick carbon fiber tube and the titanium end caps may have let go. I expected some kind of mechanical energized seal there that would have dealt with the differential collapse of the tube and the end caps (these will move differently and the shear strength of the glue in the interface may be only good for a limited number of stress cycles before it is breached).

aschen · 06-20-2023, 07:02 PM

Hand applied resin to form a butt joint at the ends? No expertise here but holy crap that is scary. Would have thought the carbon fiber would be wound around a flange or a thin wall insert that thickens as it meets the end. Also confused by the choice of carbon fiber. Its extreme strength is tension not compression. There is a discontinuity in elastic modulous at that joint as well. Seems sketchy as hell but just speculation as an engineer who has designed pressue housings for 25,000 + psi

Noah930 · Noah930's Garage

Out of curiosity, how many times has this thing gone down to Titanic-level (or at least very deep) depths? This is the 3rd expedition? And they may try a few times per expedition? Is there a number of pressure cycles that CF is good for? Or, more likely all the fittings/connections/joints?

If the submersible was lost 1:45 into the dive, and it takes 4-6 hours to get down to Titanic, they were presumably about 1/3 to halfway down? Nowhere near the crush depth of the thing, but still pretty stinkin' deep.

unclebilly · unclebilly's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by aschen

Hand applied resin to form a butt joint at the ends? No expertise here but holy crap that is scary. Would have thought the carbon fiber would be wound around a flange or a thin wall insert that thickens as it meets the end. Also confused by the choice of carbon fiber. Its extreme strength is tension not compression. There is a discontinuity in elastic modulous at that joint as well. Seems sketchy as hell but just speculation as an engineer who has designed pressue housings for 25,000 + psi

Agreed. That’s my point above.

Seems like anyone who pointed out design issues was dismissed (or fired).

A930Rocket · 06-20-2023, 07:10 PM

Good video, Otto.

There doesn't seem like a lot of margin between the crush depth for the vessel and the depth of the titanic.

That would make me nervous.

Bill Douglas · 06-20-2023, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

Meanwhile they're running out of air!

Quite literally. The sub wouldn't have toilets on board, and someone would have had to take a dump by now. Especially that Pakistani guy. Imagine the stench.

otto_kretschmer · 06-20-2023, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Quite literally. The sub wouldn't have toilets on board, and someone would have had to take a dump by now. Especially that Pakistani guy. Imagine the stench.

They're dead. They had a fire, or lost buoyancy control, or a dozen other things that could go wrong. I don't see any details of the sub design but from the couple pictures I've seen it looks like they could have visited a few submarine museums for some tips on how to build a boat.

dad911 · 06-20-2023, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Banging sounds heard during Titan search Tuesday, according to internal government memo

https://www.cnn.com/americas/live-news/titanic-submersible-missing-search-06-20-23/index.html

Tobra · Tobra's Garage

Wow, this Rush person just committed suicide and took four people with him. No way could you have looked at this and thought it would work.

How did the French submarine guy go for it? He certainly should have known better.

stealthn · 06-20-2023, 08:21 PM

Why would they not send a sub to look for it? And how are you allowed to use an experimental submarine as a charter without classification testing? Especially down that deep?

More questions than answers I have.

craigster59 · craigster59's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Quite literally. The sub wouldn't have toilets on board, and someone would have had to take a dump by now. Especially that Pakistani guy. Imagine the stench.

otto_kretschmer · 06-20-2023, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tobra

Wow, this Rush person just committed suicide and took four people with him. No way could you have looked at this and thought it would work.

How did the French submarine guy go for it? He certainly should have known better.

He must have been the trusting type. Trusting that this rich guy and his wiz kids know what they are doing.

The only hope for them is if there is another submarine or an unmanned submersible can attach a cable to the craft and have it hoisted to the surface. I don't see any kind of hook on the Titan.

We have, or had, rescue submarines but they were designed for military subs and not for the depths where the Titanic lays.

Maybe if he hired a couple more old white submarine vets he would have designed some more redundancies and fail safes into his craft.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep-submergence_rescue_vehicle