7) Explosive pressure waves pushed the hull outward. An engineering approximation is that a maximum blast equaled 2 tons of TNT, where conventional bombs for warfare range between 1 and 44 tons (wikipedia.org/wiki/TNT_equivalent), and above ground explosion blast videos are available (.youtube.com/watch?v=R2ZjMfw_6X8). Even so, most of the potential Titan explosive pressure was released from the Titan hull as the dome blew off the Titan. There were certainly sufficient explosive forces to explain the shooting of hull pieces to large distances from the sub. Plastic deformations during an implosion does not explain blasted hull sections.
8) Some parts of the hull were blasted hundreds of feet away from the body of the submersible, i.e., Titan Submersible parts were recovered from a debris field that spread for a distance of about 1100 feet, almost the length of four football fields (Figure 14, click here).
9) For piece A, shown in Figure 5, the inner Layer 1 is shown to be perpendicular to the titanium ring indicating elastic deformation of that layer back to its original position. The other layers were plastically deformed outward. These deformations are consistent with a hull explosion, not ahull implosion.
10) Hull sections, B through D, that were still attached to the aft retaining ring, were then blasted inward from the force of the incoming water pressure, which entered the hull interior.
11) The percentage of hull surface accumulated at the aft section was not noted in NTSB reports.
12) The ferocity of this explosion was demonstrated by the fact that lead from the ballast weights was imbedded in the 61-inch analyzed section that was found 350 feet away from the vessel body (Figure 15). This one-inch thick layer was the innermost of five layers that were penetrated by the external lead weights as the hull burst outward.
13) Spalling removes adhesive and rubbing damages adhesive during shearing of the layers as they rip apart (Figure 16).
Comparisons Between a Hull Implosion or a Hull Explosion
Comparisons of different technical issues in Table 1 conclude that a hull explosion explains all issues but a hull implosion does not. Most issues are discussed above. Three cases are considered: a) Viewport implosion and major hull explosion. b) Hull or adhesive failure and c) Major implosion only caused by adhesive or hull failures. Other issues follow.
1) Slant fractures can occur for any case due to complex bending and tension for each case (Figure 17). The test piece inner layer of the hull was crushed on the inside wall and stretched in the hoop direction around the circumference of the hull for an explosion.
2) Earlier work showed that recorded data during the explosions clearly proved that there were two distinct pairs of shock wave events that were consistent with explosion theory (Figure 18, click here). At the time of the explosion, a bang was heard on the support ship, and acoustic measurements were received 900 miles away in 16 minutes, which accounted for the speed of sound in water. As the first blast event unfolded, smaller shock waves are seen in the data, which were created when the viewport cracked and burst to create subsequent blast waves that bounced off the people and equipment in the Titan. In between the viewport implosion and the hull explosion, shock waves bounced back and forth inside the sub. During the explosion, shock waves bounced all over the sub, between the bursting parts, and off the ocean floor and water surface. Also following the explosion, pieces of the Titan crashed into the ocean floor to create additional sound waves. This analysis is the first scientific explanation, anywhere, of exactly how to interpret the acoustic measurements at the time of the 'Titan explosion'. This discussion debunks the 'implosion myth' of crushing the hull as a singular event without shock waves.
3) Hull pressures are higher at the forward dome for explosion conditions than for implosion conditions.
Figure 16. Spalling and rubbing of adhesive between layers on the 61-inch test piece.
(Image by NTSB) Details DMCA
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