PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Air Asia Indonesia Lost Contact from Surabaya to Singapore
Old 12th Jan 2015, 09:23
  #1823 (permalink)  
NigelOnDraft
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: UK
Posts: 2,044
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I guess "exploded" refers to the fact the fuselage was intact i.e. a pressure vessel. When it hits the water hard, the lower surface is first distorted up / inwards, markedly reducing the "volume" of the pressure vessel. Hence pressure rises beyond the structural limit and in itself causes failures.

Given the nature of impact, I suspect it also gets into complex fluid dynamics with shockwaves etc.

All fairly academic I would think?
NigelOnDraft is offline