What We Can Learn from Ill-Fated Titan Submersible

Titan submersible's service life limit unfortunately appears to have been only about a day or two.

Friday, January 19, 2024 at 05:53 PM ET

Verified

Until the investigation of the accident is completed, we will not be certain why the 'Titan' submersible failed in June 2023. [iStock]

Key Takeaways:

The *Titan* submersible's carbon fiber hull likely failed due to "insidious" progressive deterioration from repeated, prolonged exposure to extreme compressive loads, causing undetectable internal microbuckling and delamination.
Unlike aircraft, which face intermittent and less severe loads, *Titan* experienced maximum design loads on every deep dive for extended periods, accelerating material fatigue and drastically limiting its service life.
*Titan*'s unclassed experimental status meant it lacked the extensive certification, rigorous testing, and continuous monitoring crucial for composite aircraft safety, highlighting the dangers of unchecked innovation in high-risk environments.

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After the implosion of the submersible Titan in June, my friend Howard Morland wrote to me: “Cameron said it was ‘insidious’ the way composite carbon fiber materials ‘fail over time.’ This statement made me think of Melmoth 2. Any relevance?”

(Cameron being James Cameron, the film director and undersea explorer who was an early and outspoken critic of the Titan project; Melmoth 2 being my homebuilt airplane, whose wing structure consists mainly of carbon fiber composites. An unnamed third party in the drama is Stockton Rush, the designer of Titan and, like me, a self-taught amateur engineer.)