A civil engineer has proposed that the fatal implosion of the Titan submersible last year ... craft's novel — and inexpensive — composite hull design might be vulnerable to tiny imperfections ...

The hulls "have very low resistance to impact loads, and the hull is susceptible to deformation under applied external loading." The Titan had also "experienced dozens of problems during previous ...

Unlike the hollow main hull, the tail’s interior space was ... Critics had long faulted Titan’s design as a maverick approach that featured many departures from proven submersible designs.