Implosion damage

[Aaron_2016]

Here is an experiment involving a steel drum partially filled with a few inches of heated water, compressed air and steam inside. When it reacts with cold water there is a violent implosion.


Skip to 2:16





Could this break the Titanic in two?


.

 

[Aaron_2016]

Would the sealed compartments act like that barrel? Could a number of boilers or rooms compress and implode causing the ship to breach open in the middle and break in two? I imagine the air pressure would certainly build up inside the lower compartments as the ship rested heavier in the water, and the pressure outside would build up and push against the sides until something buckled leading to an implosion.

Mr. Stengel told the US Inquiry - "All of a sudden there were four sharp explosions about that far apart, just like this (the witness indicating by snapping his fingers four times), and then she dipped and the stern stood up in the air, and then the cries began for help. I should think that the people who were left on the boat began to jump over. There was an awful wail like."



.

 

[Kyle Naber]

I've often wondered what those four explosions were. But personally, I believe that the stern rising at the explosions was just the sinking rate dramatically increasing. Once water laps over the deck, the sinking becomes very rapid and the stern would then be forced upwards.

 

[Rob Lawes]

As the steam condenses inside the barrel the pressure reduces and eventually reaches a point where the external air pressure overcomes the structural integrity of the barrel.

On Titanic the boiler rooms could in no way be described as sealed. They weren't vertically water tight as we know. The steam could condense inside the boilers but even so, as far as we know, Boiler room 2 was dry until the break up, the fires had been drawn in 3 and 4, while 5 and 6 had long been flooded.

In short I would say no to that theory. Its not possible.

 

[Aaron_2016]

Curious to know if all of the boilers affected during the break up have been accounted on the seabed? I recall someone (possibly here) said that one of the boilers shows signs of imploding, but I don't know which boiler they were referring to. We have seen the destructive power that was released on the stern section. Wonder if that kind of implosive release had affected a few of the coal bunkers or sealed compartments. Do we know of any compartments that could be sealed airtight with doors forward and aft and hatches above?

Major Peuchen gave his theory to the US Inquiry - "I imagined that the decks had blown up with the pressure, pulling the boat down, bow on, this heavyweight, and the air between the decks. That is my theory of the explosion. I do not know whether it is correct or not, but I do not think it was the boilers. I think it was the pressure, that heavy weight shoving that down, the water rushing up, and the air coming between the decks. Something had to go."


.

 

[Stephen Carey]

The noise of explosions differs between survivors. The ship breaking in two, the steam line suddenly fracturing, a boiler suddenly releasing its pressure as the stop valve is torn off, all are a sudden release of energy which is of course the definition of an explosion. Boilers imploding is unlikely though I suppose not impossible, but they are pressure vessels which can also take a fair degree of underpressure. The barrel example given above reminds me of an idea by a 3rd Engineer to get oil out of a 200 litre (45gal) drum; connect the 7bar air line to the smaller bung, and a delivery spout to the larger bung. Great idea until it exploded (oil drums are not designed to take 7bar pressure, which is why the actual air receiver is around an inch thick) and unfortunately killed him. The oil drum imploding is of course possible - and fun to do - as it is not a pressure vessel.

 

[Cam Houseman]

In my mind, this is how I think of the damage

Very sorry on the scribbled hand writing, I was in a hurry.
Anyway
I think when the Stern imploded, it significantly weakened the forward end of the Stern. That's why, when the Stern was helicoptering around, that area of the deck designated or was flung off. That's why we find the Grand Staircase Aft done way out in the debris field, as it was most likely doing from the Stern like a frisbee. That could be why, when we look at the Stern Wreck today, I think that's why only the First Class Smoking Room floor and aft wall remains, then the fourth funnel hole/uptake, and the galley over the engines. Other areas of the Stern that were weakened very much, would be the well deck and the Poopdeck. The well deck could have sagged into D-Deck, and when the Stern landed, it popped like a ready whitehead. I think had it not been weakened, it (probably) would not have burst. For the PoopDeck, I think there were other implosions, "loosening rivets. You know, BANG BANG." As James Cameron out it. So the poopdeck, caught in the current, and folded over.
Feel free to rip this theory apart, and put in your facts and information or theories!
thanks for reading