Incredible video that recreates how the Titan submersible imploded

Just over a month ago we witnessed the tragedy of the Titan, in which five crew members died after the submarine they were in imploded. The investigation continues into what could have gone wrong for this to have happened to the OceanGate submersible in the deep waters of the North Atlantic.

The passengers aboard the ill-fated vessel that was en route to visit the remains of the Titanic - one of the best-known maritime disasters, which has aroused the interest and fascination of the public for decades - were Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding and Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

The moment of implosion

After several expert testimonies explaining what could have happened, the company AiTELLY, specialized in 3D engineering animations, has published a YouTube video that recreates the implosion in the most graphic and didactic way to date:

What is an implosion?

It should be noted that an implosion refers to a phenomenon experienced by an object when the external pressure becomes so high that it manages to overcome the resistance of the vessel’s body. In the case of the Titan, the pressure underwater became so strong that it managed to deform the structure of the vehicle, to the point of breaking and collapsing from inward.

Unlike an explosion, in an underwater implosion energy is released into the object which is affected by the water pressure, which generates a shock wave that it compresses the air and water with great force, creating a vacuum bubble that in a short time collapses with great force.

Titan’s carbon fiber construction blamed for accident

The video, about six minutes long, has quickly gone viral, garnering more than six million views since it was posted on June 30. In the narration, the carbon fiber construction of the Titan is blamed for the accident.

At a depth of almost 13,000 feet or 4‚000 meters, where the Titanic rests, “there is around 5,600 pounds per square inch of pressure. It’s almost 400 times the pressure we experience on the surface,” explains AiTELLY in the video. “Existing technology is based on steel, titanium and aluminium. These are what kept other submarines from being crushed. But the Titan has had an experimental design.”

More than 12 hours to recreate the video

The animation was created using an open source software called Blender. To do this, they took the information and measurements published about the submarine on the OceanGate website and Google. The process took 12 hours for those responsible, but the result was worth it.