Category Archives: Safety

Titanic – The ‘Unsinkable’ Ship and the lessons for Engineers

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Today’s blog steps away from the world of Automotive and Motorsport for a change – to a well known tale with a local connection. The story of RMS Titanic – the ‘infamous’ unsinkable ship.

The Titanic leaving Southampton By F.G.O. Stuart (1843-1923)

The Titanic leaving Southampton
By F.G.O. Stuart (1843-1923)

The ship sank on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, succumbing to the waves of the North Atlantic Ocean in the very early hours of the 15 April 1912 – today is the 104th Anniversary of the disaster which claimed more than 1,500 lives from the 2,224 people on board. This was enough to make it one of the most deadly maritime disasters in modern history.

The largest ship afloat at the time, RMS Titanic was the second of three Olympic class liners operated by the White Star Line and was under the command of 62-year-old Captain Edward John Smith RD, RNR, a respected naval reserve officer and the most senior Captain of the White Star Line. He was born on Well Street, Hanley – less than 2 miles from our College Road and Leek Road campuses.

Locally born Captain Edward J Smith By New York Times

Locally born Captain Edward J Smith
By New York Times

The first four days of the voyage passed without any incident, however First Officer William Murdoch informed Captain Smith that the ship had just collided with an iceberg around 11:40 pm (ship’s time) on the 14th April. Although the ship did have advanced safety features – including watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, the outdated maritime safety regulations at the time meant that she only carried 20 lifeboats on board. This would cater for just over half of those on board during the maiden voyage, and approximately one third of her total capacity.

It soon became clear that the damage was serious, the strike and resulting shock actually resulted in a shearing of the rivets and buckling of hull plates – opening a leak in the hull that was below the waterline. Modern ultrasound surveys of the wreck show the damage to consist of around six narrow openings in an area of the hull that covers 12 square feet (1.1 sq. m). This is slightly different to the original inquiry that indicated openings of around 300 feet (91 m) with the iceberg having sliced the hull.

This lead to five of her sixteen watertight compartments being opened to the sea – the rate of water entering was fifteen times faster than they could pump it out. This started to flood the watertight compartments, each one had a bulkhead which extended well above the water line – however they were not sealed at the top – if too many compartments flooded, water would spill across to the next compartment as the bow settled deeper in the water. This is what happened to RMS Titanic – it was designed to float with, up to, four compartments flooded (in certain combinations, and only two fully), however five meant it’s bow was low enough to submerge the top of the bulkheads. Captain Smith consulted with Thomas Andrews, Titanic’s head designer and builder who was part of the guarantee group, travelling on the maiden voyage to look for various improvements that could be made, he stated that it was a ‘mathematical certainty’ that the ship would sink, given the flooding and that there was only an hour or two before it completely sank. The RMS Titanic sank 2 hours 40 minutes after the collision with the iceberg.

Titanic Wreck By Courtesy of NOAA/Institute for Exploration/University of Rhode Island (NOAA/IFE/URI). - http://www.gc.noaa.gov/gcil_titanic.html

Titanic Wreck
By Courtesy of NOAA/Institute for Exploration/University of Rhode Island (NOAA/IFE/URI). – http://www.gc.noaa.gov/gcil_titanic.html

In the aftermath of the sinking, there were public inquiries set up in both Britain and the US. The two reached similar conclusions on the number of lifeboats, failure to take proper heed of ice warnings and high speeds. Neither inquiry found negligence, as the standard and long-standing practices were carried out. However, the disaster led to major changes in maritime regulations, including an International Ice Patrol to monitor iceberg presence in the North Atlantic and the harmonisation of maritime safety regulations through the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) – both still operating today.

So, what are the lessons for Engineers in all this… We often are called upon to design new and improved technology and these designs are rarely solely for our own exclusive use. We have to consider all sorts of situations and design for things that might never occur. We also have to avoid the tombstone culture – where changes for safety are only made because people are being killed or hurt. In doing this, we make sure our new designs continue to move forward.

App Happy? The rise of wireless technology in the Automotive Industry

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Recent news stories talk about hacking vulnerability found in the Nissan Leaf and Tesla vehicles. That potentially, a determined hacker could gain control of none critical vehicle systems. In the case of the Nissan Leaf – the air conditioning and other power draining systems – risking the driver becoming stranded. In addition, data about previous journeys could be accessed. Nissan responded by suspending the functions of this application. So how big is the risk from the huge rise of wireless and app technology in vehicles and what can be done about it?

Nissan's Leaf was at the centre of a cybersecurity risk. Image source: bbc.co.uk

Nissan’s Leaf was at the centre of a cybersecurity risk. Image source: bbc.co.uk

How does wireless/app technology work in vehicles currently?

Early in car technology allowed us to connect our phone into a Bluetooth or wired system so we could make/answer phone-calls hands free. However with increasing technology contained within the mobile phone – we’re now looking to access, sat nav and other information while driving, as well as looking to play our music from streaming services or our phone memory.

The NissanConnect in vehicle app is one of several by different manufacturers to connect their smartphones to their vehicles – this means that apps, features and other services can be used to personalize their vehicle – this might be turning the heater on in the vehicle to defrost it on a cold morning or more advanced features to provide music via a phone, sat nav to the car or information on fuel, hotels or other items of interest.

We’ve also seen the use of black box telemetry within cars to monitor driving styles for insurance purposes and this will evolve further.

What is the future of this?

The black box telemetry reports to your insurance company and you can see a report on this data, but Hyundai’s newest system allows parents to monitor and restrict their teen driver’s speed, hours of operation and where it travels. It doesn’t prevent these things happening (yet, and there is a whole new debate there!) but it does alert the parent via text/email/app. The driver is also notified of this.

Moving on from this is the idea of a digital dashboard – already seen to some extent in vehicles and in motor sport with multi function trip computers – this can be seen in the partnership between Audi and NVIDIA – they have developed a fully digital dashboard. This will replace the instrument cluster, and fast processors ensure the frame and render rates are fast enough to display precisely. From this augmented reality and head-up displays are not too much of a step.

These all potentially lead to the biggest change of all, driver-less cars – we’re already seeing the car take control of some aspects of driving. From our initial developments in cruise control to adaptive cruise control and auto braking functions – this is likely to move to adaptive systems that can automatically steer to follow a car in front or keep a vehicle within a lane of traffic. This could develop into the vehicles communicating with each other to maintain smoother traffic flows.

The connected vehicle - communication between cars to ease congestion. Image source: wired.com

The connected vehicle – communication between cars to ease congestion. Image source: wired.com

Where are the risks? Exploitation of loopholes?

Besides the obvious driver distraction element – which manufacturers claim to be avoiding through the clever use of voice activation and multi function dials – the largest risks are from security flaws within the systems.

The NissanConnect app’s vulnerability issues appear to stem from the level of identification checks it carried out. Those people who had never signed up for the app/an account were never at risk – however those who did, the system would look for the vehicle identification number (or VIN) for security – this loophole could allow an attacker to send commands to the vehicle via a web browser – leaking potentially confidential information such as the owner’s registered username and times and distances of journeys. When the app was unregistered – the car became safe from attack.

This shows that as the development of the connected car moves forward, the cyber-security side of the technology will become vitally important to. Only by focusing on all the aspects of safety and security around the connected vehicle can we work to avoid the dangers.

 

F1 Regulations 2016 – Preview

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Back in December, the FIA published the latest incarnation of the Sporting Regulations – these ones for the 2016 season. Outwardly, there are a few major changes – however it’s the smaller changes that could have the biggest influence on racing in the 2016 season.

Engines

Currently, the teams will be allowed 5 power units per driver during the season, an increase of one from last year. The reason for this increase, 2 extra races from the previous season, Azerbaijan and the return of Germany to the calendar. This means each engine is has to last 1,250 km of race mileage (this doesn’t include free practice and qualifying).

However, significantly for the teams – if the calendar drops back to 20 races or less (which is a risk at the moment), then the power unit allowance drops back down to 4 engines. Meaning each engine then has to cover 1,500 km of race mileage. An extra 250 km might not sound like much – but engine designers are working on critical life timing for each component, and this could become close once practice sessions are taken into account.

Homologation for these engines must occur by the end of February – meaning that the engines for 2016 must have been signed off before winter testing has even begun – however there is the ability to make changes after for safety and reliability, and the in season token development system.

Safety Studies

Another key area is safety, thankfully the FIA is continuing its safety crusade, and in 2016 that includes the addition of a high speed camera to each car to study the driver’s head movements during an accident. This will help with understanding what happens during an impact. In addition to this all drivers must now wear in-ear accelerometers during any time in the car.

High Speed Cameras to assess head movement during impact: Image Source and more information http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/120831

High Speed Cameras to assess head movement during impact: Image Source and more information http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/120831

Wind Tunnel Usage

The FIA have apparently become suspicious of some teams going beyond the 60 tunnel hours/65 runs per week regulations, given their rate of aerodynamic development – leading from this they must supply two digital pictures (with date stamp) of the models before each run. These must show the entire working section of the tunnel with the model in situ. Highlighting any teams breaking the rules, or at least this is the theory – the data theft risk associated with the FIA holding the biggest photographic database of F1 aerodynamic development could fill a whole series of blog entries.

These changes may seem small in the context of the wider changes in regulations – but it is highly likely that we’ll be watching these smaller influences taking on a bigger impact in the 2016 season.

 

Justin Wilson – Obituary

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Just over a month ago we wrote about the sad death of Jules Bianchi – following his serious accident at Suzuka 9 months previously. Overnight came more bad news from the motorsport community, the loss of British racing driver Justin Wilson, aged 37.

Justin Wilson, who has passed away aged 37. Source: www.autoracing1.com

Justin Wilson, who has passed away aged 37. Source: Rob Chinn/www.autoracing1.com

Justin Wilson suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of flying debris from an accident involving race leader Sage Karam during the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway. Karam’s nose cone hit Wilson’s helmet and cockpit area as he passed the accident scene and Wilson immediately veered left towards the wall – seemingly unconscious. He was airlifted from the scene in a coma and passed away yesterday.

Justin Wilson was born and grew up near Sheffield, he began racing karts in 1987 before moving into Formula Vauxhall with Paul Stewart Racing (Paul being the son of Scottish racer Jackie Stewart). International attention came when he won the inaugural Formula Palmer Audi championship.

He was one of the finalists in 1998 for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award – Jenson Button was the winner that year, Justin’s brother Stefan won the award himself in 2007. In 1999, he joined the FIA International Formula 3000 championship, wining the title in 2001.

He then spent a year driving in the Telefonica World Series by Nissan and tested for the Minardi Formula One team – however his height (6ft 4in) meant he was not able to race the 2002 car. He however signed for the team in 2003, when the car was designed around his frame. Although the car wasn’t the fastest, Wilson performed well against highly experienced teammate Jos Verstappen. For the last five races of that season he replaced Antonio Pizzonia at Jaguar Racing scoring a championship point at the 2003 United States Grand Prix.

Justin Wilson in the 2003 Jaguar Racing F1 car. Source: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/

Justin Wilson in the 2003 Jaguar Racing F1 car. Source: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/

For the 2004 season he moved the the American Champ Car World Series, also taking part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Dome-Jude S101. He won his first Champ Car race in 2005 at Toronto. In 2008, the Champ Car series and the Indy Racing League merged to form the IndyCar series. He took his maiden win in the new series at Detroit that year. During this time he also found time to compete in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona several times – winning the event with his co-drivers in 2012. A single race appearance in Formula E at Moscow and a handful of V8 Supercar races show a versatile racer willing to try his skill at any event.

Justin Wilson in the Andretti Autosport IndyCar. Source: LAT Photographic

Justin Wilson in the Andretti Autosport IndyCar. Source: LAT Photographic

Mark Glendenning writing for Racer refers to a man who;

“…commanded universal respect and affection from his peers for his speed and racecraft inside the car, and intelligence and generosity outside of it.”

Away from racing Wilson was a passionate supporter of the causes close to his heart, including promoting awareness and understanding of dyslexia – himself being a sufferer. He is survived by his wife Julia and two daughters, Jane and Jessica.

At this time it’s too early to say the impact this latest high profile death will have on the motorsport family, we’re all still in shock, especially those of us who knew well or had spent time with Justin, however as a community – even knowing that our sport is dangerous – we need to look as the recent accidents to see if there are lessons to be learnt, steps to be taken, design changes to be made – and, most importantly, how to keep those competing in the sport we love, people who have become family and friends, as safe as possible.

Quote Source: Racer Magazine: Justin Wilson 1978 – 2015

F1 Driver Jules Bianchi dies

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Today the Motorsport world awoke to the news that Formula One driver, Jules Bianchi had passed away during the night following his serious accident at the Suzuka circuit, during the Japanese Grand Prix on the 5th October 2014. He was just 25 years old.

   

He had remained in a coma since suffering severe head injuries when his Marussia F1 car (the team now known as Manor F1)  struck a recovery vehicle during the rain-hit race. He suffered a diffuse axonal injury as a result of his helmet becoming lodged underneath the tractor crane when his car left the track and slid underneath it. This type of injury is caused by a severe blow to the head, with damage caused as the brain moves within the skull. It is a serious injury which very often has fatal or life changing consequences – as seen in Bianchi’s case.

Jules is the first active F1 driver to have been killed due to injuries suffered during a race since Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger both passed away in tragic circumstances during the weekend of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, 21 years ago. Maria de Villota died in October 2013, 14 months after life changing injuries caused by crashing while involved in straight-line testing for Marussia. Three more drivers, John Dawson-Damer, Friedrich “Fritz” Glatz and Denis Welch, have been killed while driving historic Formula One cars during this time.

Coming from a racing family, Jules was the second member of his family to have competed in Formula One, his great-Uncle Lucien having started 17 Grand Prix races, with his best result a third in the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix – however they would never have had a chance to swop stories – tragically Lucien was killed when his Alfa Romeo T33 crashed during Le Mans testing the year after his Monaco success.

While each of us has our own memories of Jules Bianchi, it is Tony DiZinno, NBC Sports Motorsports Talk reporter who sums the wider sense of loss up perfectly in his article;

“Death in racing is always a hard thing to swallow, no matter the driver or individual involved, no matter the age.

Yet it’s when drivers are taken before they have the opportunity to reach the zenith of their potential that the hurt cuts deeper.”

“Motorsport is Dangerous” – whether we work in the industry, or are just an interested spectator, we can’t fail to see the signs that repeat this incessantly; around the circuit, on websites, programmes, tickets… The list of locations is endless. Perhaps we tell ourselves that it’s no longer as dangerous as it once was, the death filled years of the past (1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s) are long gone but whatever we say, tragic accidents can and do still occur. 

We owe it to the list of 50 or so drivers killed during F1 weekends or behind the wheel of F1 cars, and to the many, many more killed in other forms of automotive racing, to do all we can to keep our drivers, team members, officials, volunteers and spectators as safe as we possibly can. Perhaps then, we can stop adding to a list of names, the drivers who have never been able to show us what they can truely achieve on the track. Today we mourn the lost of one more bright star of Motorsport – all of those involved in Motorsport hold his family and friends in their thoughts at this sad time.