The possible role of fire in the sinking of the Titanic - structural response of a steel bulkhead subjected to localised heating
In 1912, Titanic, the largest ship afloat at the time collided with an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic Ocean due to extensive damage to its hull. However, a fact well documented but often forgotten is that, from the moment the Titanic began her first sea trials and set sail to Southampton, co...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Conference Object |
| Language: | unknown |
| Published: |
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://zenodo.org/record/6476330 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6476330 |
| Summary: | In 1912, Titanic, the largest ship afloat at the time collided with an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic Ocean due to extensive damage to its hull. However, a fact well documented but often forgotten is that, from the moment the Titanic began her first sea trials and set sail to Southampton, coal in one of the ships’ bunkers was burning in a smouldering fire. Fire was adjacent to one of the watertight bulkheads. A new theory has been put forward recently in the 2017 documentary “Titanic: The New Theory” that the smouldering coal fire could have weakened the steel leading to the premature collapse of the bulkhead accelerating the sinking. Nevertheless, this is a new theory and this paper reports research to investigate it. A preliminary study of the structural response of a steel bulkhead similar to that in the Titanic exposed to the kind of localised heating produced by a smouldering coal fire is presented. Six case studies are investigated, varying the size of the heated area and peak temperature of the steel. Results indicate that several cases lead to similar deformation patterns as described by firemen in the Titanic. Moreover, we report high residual stresses in the bulkhead which could result in premature collapse when further loading is applied. |
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