Geotechnical investigation of the Titanic wreck site

Recent marine forensic investigations have largely unravelled the sequence of events concerning the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic and its descent thro ugh nearly 3800 m of water to the seafloor on the morning of 15 April 1912. In particular, the velocity and attitude of the Titanic's bow section (at present lying upright, reasonably intact, and embedded by similar to 12 m a t the prow) as it hit the bottom are of general interest to marine accident investigators. During the 1998 Titanic Science Expedition, a single sedime nt sample was retrieved from the seafloor (depth 20-30 cm) near the wreck b y the deep water submersible, Nautile. Published geological studies suggest the seafloor in this area has remained largely undisturbed since 1912. Geo technical analysis of the sediment sample reveals that the impact was proba bly a substantially undrained event and that the characteristic undrained s hear strength of the sediment is similar to 25kPa within 10-16 m below the seafloor. A simple analytical model was used to calculate the embedment of a cuboid with dimensions and mass of the water-filled bow as a function of impact velocity, impact angle, and the undrained shear strength of the sedi ment. The results indicate the impossibility of a steep angle of impact and fast velocity. The most likely scenario is an impact velocity of 5-10 m/s at a fairly shallow angle (<40<degrees>), which corroborates the results of hydrodynamic investigations.