4 ms·

On the boats I used to work on, it was common to bond Mg or Ti ribs to a carbon shell for increased durability. I bet they're using a similar process with the

On the boats I used to work on, it was common to bond Mg or Ti ribs to a carbon shell for increased durability. I bet they're using a similar process with the wing roots/spars in the airliners.

toomuchtodo 10y ago
Thoughts on reinforcing the bow of a sailboat with titanium to prevent vessel loss due to collisions with floating cargo containers while blue water cruising?
- sonium 10y ago
  I thought containers don't float anymore these days because of built in flood valves?
  - pdelbarba 10y ago
    You're assuming the contents isn't buoyant. What happens if its a container full of polystyrene beads or something? :)
- pdelbarba 10y ago
  Depends on the bow shape really. If its a newer one with a relatively squared up bow, you're kinda screwed since it's much harder ride over hard objects. If the bow is rather shallow you can just add a few layers of carbon and you'll have no problem riding over any objects with minimal damage. That said, you'll still probably screw up your keel.
- protomyth 10y ago
  What is the probability of that happening? I know it occurred in a really poor movie[1][2], but I cannot believe this is common enough to warrant the effort. Also, wouldn't early detection be a better / cheaper alternative? 1) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2017038/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2017038/ 2) https://youtu.be/YwmVpHJeqgY?t=7m27s https://youtu.be/YwmVpHJeqgY?t=7m27s
  - pdelbarba 10y ago
    It's basically not going to happen but hitting flotsam in general is a concern in some situations. I used to boat on the Cuyahoga for instance and floating microwaves will fuck you up. Also, detection of floating objects is actually really hard. Waves create a ton of noise and if you google "floating shipping container" you'll see they typically float with a corner sticking up, making them a somewhat inefficient radar reflector (there's a reason the F117 is shaped the way it is).
    - protomyth 10y ago
      I was more thinking sonar. There seems to be quite a few companies selling obstacle avoidance sonar that have some pretty cool displays.
      - pdelbarba 10y ago
        Sonar doesn't typically work very well looking forward near the surface. For larger craft the transducer could be mounted low enough to look up slightly but even then you have surface interference issues. A container might be a big and deep enough target to pick up on something mounted to the bottom of a sailboat keel perhaps but definitely not the bow. From a signals perspective, things that live right on the edge of the water/air boundary are kind of a pain to detect. Unless the water is perfectly still, there's so much noise that you need a lot of spatial resolution to actually see anything useful
Gravityloss 10y ago
That's unexpected: one would assume use carbon for the ribs too. What titanium is better for is high point loads and abrasion.
- pdelbarba 10y ago
  They use carbon now. This was an old design (mid 2000s)

On the boats I used to work on, it was common to bond Mg or Ti ribs to a carbon shell for increased durability. I bet they're using a similar process with the wing roots/spars in the airliners.

toomuchtodo 10y ago

Thoughts on reinforcing the bow of a sailboat with titanium to prevent vessel loss due to collisions with floating cargo containers while blue water cruising?

sonium 10y ago
I thought containers don't float anymore these days because of built in flood valves?
- pdelbarba 10y ago
  You're assuming the contents isn't buoyant. What happens if its a container full of polystyrene beads or something? :)
pdelbarba 10y ago
Depends on the bow shape really. If its a newer one with a relatively squared up bow, you're kinda screwed since it's much harder ride over hard objects. If the bow is rather shallow you can just add a few layers of carbon and you'll have no problem riding over any objects with minimal damage. That said, you'll still probably screw up your keel.
protomyth 10y ago
What is the probability of that happening? I know it occurred in a really poor movie[1][2], but I cannot believe this is common enough to warrant the effort. Also, wouldn't early detection be a better / cheaper alternative? 1) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2017038/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2017038/ 2) https://youtu.be/YwmVpHJeqgY?t=7m27s https://youtu.be/YwmVpHJeqgY?t=7m27s
- pdelbarba 10y ago
  It's basically not going to happen but hitting flotsam in general is a concern in some situations. I used to boat on the Cuyahoga for instance and floating microwaves will fuck you up. Also, detection of floating objects is actually really hard. Waves create a ton of noise and if you google "floating shipping container" you'll see they typically float with a corner sticking up, making them a somewhat inefficient radar reflector (there's a reason the F117 is shaped the way it is).
  - protomyth 10y ago
    I was more thinking sonar. There seems to be quite a few companies selling obstacle avoidance sonar that have some pretty cool displays.
    - pdelbarba 10y ago
      Sonar doesn't typically work very well looking forward near the surface. For larger craft the transducer could be mounted low enough to look up slightly but even then you have surface interference issues. A container might be a big and deep enough target to pick up on something mounted to the bottom of a sailboat keel perhaps but definitely not the bow. From a signals perspective, things that live right on the edge of the water/air boundary are kind of a pain to detect. Unless the water is perfectly still, there's so much noise that you need a lot of spatial resolution to actually see anything useful

Gravityloss 10y ago

That's unexpected: one would assume use carbon for the ribs too. What titanium is better for is high point loads and abrasion.

pdelbarba 10y ago
They use carbon now. This was an old design (mid 2000s)