潜艇“内爆”灾难性事件知多少

Titan sub implosion: What we know about catastrophic event

潜艇“内爆”灾难性事件知多少

US authorities say a debris field located in the North Atlantic leads to a conclusion that OceanGate's Titan submersible suffered a "catastrophic implosion" (a violent collapse inwards), instantly killing all five passengers on board.

美国当局表示，位于北大西洋的一个碎片场得出的结论是，海洋之门的泰坦潜水器遭受了“灾难性内爆”（向内剧烈塌陷），立即导致船上所有五名乘客死亡。

The US Navy says it detected sounds "consistent with an implosion" shortly after the sub lost contact on Sunday during a descent to the Titanic wreck at 3,800m  below sea level - but this information was only made public on Thursday.

美国海军表示，周日潜艇在海平面以下 3,800 m 下降到泰坦尼克号残骸时失去联系后不久，他们就检测到了“与内爆相符”的声音，但这一信息直到周四才公开。

The loss of the deep-water vessel was finally confirmed after a huge search mission in the area off Canada's Newfoundland province.

经过在加拿大纽芬兰省附近地区进行的大规模搜索任务后，这艘深水船的失踪最终得到确认。

 What caused the implosion?

是什么导致了内爆？

Titan's hull is believed to have collapsed on Sunday as a result of enormous water pressure.

据信泰坦的船体在周日因巨大的水压而坍塌。

The sub was built to withstand such pressure - and experts will now be trying to determine what exactly went wrong. Analysis of the debris may help to establish this.

该潜艇的建造就是为了承受这样的压力，专家们现在正试图确定到底出了什么问题。 对碎片的分析可能有助于确定这一点。

Titan is believed to have been 3,500m below sea level when contact was lost.

据信，泰坦失去联系时位于海平面以下 3,500m 处。

The vessel was so deep that the amount of water on it would have been equivalent to the weight of the Eiffel Tower, tens of thousands of tonnes.

该船当时潜入极深，它上面的水量相当于埃菲尔铁塔的重量，达到数万吨。

If there were a rupture to the structure, the pressure outside would be much greater than the one inside the hull, compressing the vessel.

如果船体结构破裂，外部的压力将比船体内部的压力大得多，从而压缩舱体。

What happens in an implosion?

内爆时会发生什么？

When a submarine hull collapses, it moves inward at about 2,414km/h - that's 671m per second, says Dave Corley, a former US nuclear submarine officer.

美国前核潜艇军官戴夫·科利解释说，当潜艇船体坍塌时，它会以大约 2,414km/h 的速度向内移动，即每秒 671米。

The time required for complete collapse is about one millisecond, or one thousandth of a second.

船舱完全崩溃所需的时间约为一毫秒，即千分之一秒。

A human brain responds instinctually to a stimulus at about 25 milliseconds, Mr Corley says. Human rational response - from sensing to acting - is believed to be at best 150 milliseconds.

科利说，人类大脑会在大约 25 毫秒内对刺激做出本能反应。 人类的理性反应——从感知到行动——一般认为最快也需要 150 毫秒。

The air inside a sub has a fairly high concentration of hydrocarbon vapours.

潜艇内的空气含有相当高浓度的碳氢化合物蒸气。

When the hull collapses, the air auto-ignites and an explosion follows the initial rapid implosion, Mr Corley says.

科利表示，当船体倒塌时，空气会自动点燃，并在最初的快速内爆后发生爆炸。

Human bodies incinerate and are turned to ash and dust instantly.

这种情况下，人体会瞬间被焚烧化为灰烬和灰尘。

How an investigation is likely to proceed?

调查可能如何进行？

Any investigation is sure to focus on the carbon fibre mid-section of the Titan sub.

任何调查肯定会集中在泰坦潜艇的碳纤维中部。

The pressure vessels of deep vehicles like this are normally constructed from a robust metal such as titanium and are shaped in a sphere, to spread the immense pressure equally around the passenger compartment.

这种潜水级别的压力容器通常由钛等坚固的金属制成，形状为球形，以便将巨大的压力均匀地分散在乘客舱周围。

But to fit more people inside, the OceanGate sub adopted a cylindrical shape, with a carbon fibre tube inserted between two titanium end caps. Carbon fibre is very tough - they use it to build aeroplane wings and racing cars.   

但为了容纳更多人，OceanGate 的潜舱采用了圆柱形，在两个钛制两端之间插入了一根碳纤维管。 碳纤维是非常坚韧——他们用它来制造飞机机翼和赛车。

But did that immense pressure at depth - more than 300 times the atmosphere at the sea surface - play on the material to expose flaws in the original fabrication or to introduce and then worsen instabilities over repeated dives?

但是，深海处的巨大压力（超过海面大气压力的 300 倍）是否会对材料产生作用，从而暴露原始制造中的缺陷，或者在重复潜水过程中引入并加剧不稳定性？

Any investigation would want to know about the practice non-destructive testing.

任何调查都会想了解无损检测的实践。

Aircraft are subjected to regular, very fine-scale inspections to ensure their materials are not developing cracks or that their layers are not starting to separate.

飞机要接受定期的、非常精细的检查，以确保其材料不会出现裂纹或层不会开始分离。

Photographing the Titan debris found on the ocean floor and bringing them back to the surface for study in a forensic lab may allow engineers to identify where on the sub structural integrity was lost, initiating the catastrophic implosion.

拍摄在海底发现的泰坦碎片并将其带回水面在法医实验室进行研究，可能会让工程师确定子结构稳定性出现问题的位置，而这个问题很可能引发了灾难性的内爆。

Implosion  内爆

Catastrophic 灾难性的

debris 残骸，碎片

consistent with 与…一致的

collapse 坍塌

enormous  巨大的

withstand 经受，承受

determine 决定

rupture 破裂

instinctually 本能地

stimulus 刺激

ignite 点燃

incinerate 焚化

compartment 隔间，舱房

cylindrical圆柱形