What is the name of the round geometric window on an airplane? The windows on the plane are round to prevent it from falling apart

Jet aircraft manufacturing was just beginning in the 1950s. The first airliner was the Comet, the brainchild of de Havilland (British aircraft manufacturing company; approx. mixednews). It was an ultra-modern jet passenger aircraft with unique features for that time. technical characteristics and a sealed cabin. Unfortunately, in 1954, two Comets broke up mid-flight, killing a total of 56 people.

The reason is ridiculously simple: square windows. This was one of those annoying little things that are easy to miss when designing; but as soon as something happens, they become obvious even to a child.

The square window consists of four 90-degree notches, which means it has four weak points. If there was pressure on your house, the crack would certainly go through the corner of some window.

Have you noticed that the windows on all planes are round? This is not done for beauty - the round shape does not allow the plane to be torn into pieces. The pressure is distributed along the entire curve instead of cracking at the corners (as it turned out) and tearing the plane to shreds.

Believe me, it wasn't easy to find out. Experts had no idea why the plane's structure was falling apart until they tested the structure by repeatedly simulating cabin pressure. Of course, the fuselage eventually burst, and the rupture began precisely from these notorious corners. Since then, all aircraft have only round windows.

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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 2012, at a meeting with potential donors, was outraged by the fact that passengers could not open “windows” on the plane.

The plane carrying presidential candidate Romney's wife landed after experiencing smoke in the cabin. There was no fire (everything is made from non-flammable materials), but, of course, the plane was quickly landed. Commenting on the incident, the Republican said:

“If there is a fire on the plane and you have nowhere to go, ... you cannot breathe, because outside air cannot enter the cabin, since the windows do not open. I have no idea why they won't open. This is a real problem. And this is very dangerous. She gasped and rubbed her eyes. And it would be much easier for the wife to cope with stress if she could breathe fresh air during a fire. Fortunately, there was enough oxygen for the pilot and co-pilot to make the safe landing in Denver. But she’s fine now,” he concluded.

So why can't you open the windows and doors on an airplane?

US presidential candidate regrets that airplane windows cannot be opened

What happens if you open the door on an airplane? Let's start with the fact that after takeoff, the aircraft doors are under great pressure. The door area is at least half a meter. Those. 5000 sq. cm. Even if the difference is only 0.2 Atm, then 1000 kgf must be applied to open the door. More precisely - 500kgs, since the handle is on the edge of the door, and the other side is on hinges

That is, to open such a door, you will need the strength of Superman. Not a single person can do this task. So if you are afraid that some tipsy passenger will decide to open the door during a flight and passengers will start flying overboard, you have nothing to worry about. This is completely out of the question.

In addition, a barometric relay is built into the door lock, which, as soon as the plane begins to gain altitude, automatically locks the lock tightly. The lock is unlocked only when the pressure inside the aircraft is equal to the outside pressure (that is, on the ground).

But still...

Up to about 4 km - nothing particularly terrible will happen, it will blow strongly, things will fly around the cabin. :) It will get colder. -6 Celsius for every kilometer of altitude. That is, at an altitude of 4 km it will become 24 degrees colder than at this time on the surface of the earth. In theory, there may be minor structural damage - but this depends on the specific circumstances of the unfortunate incident, the speed of the aircraft and the direction and speed of the wind.

At 10 km and above it will be worse - a sharp (explosive) decompression (pressure drop), up to the effect of a blast wave. Things from the cabin and unfastened passengers can be carried overboard by the air being sucked out. Things flying around the cabin can seriously injure passengers (for example, a camera or video camera). A blow to the ears (due to changes in pressure) - both sharply and strongly and painfully - may cause bleeding from the ears and/or nose. There is very little oxygen at this altitude. You need to immediately put on an oxygen mask (be sure to first yourself, then help others, including children).

The pilot must have time to descend to a safe altitude (4 km) - so that passengers can breathe - because The oxygen supply is only enough for about 10 minutes. But “falling” 6 km in 10 minutes is not a problem, it can be done faster, the main thing is that the passengers do not become hypothermic, because The difference in temperature on the ground and at an altitude of 10 km is 60 degrees Celsius. The probability of damage to the structure is somewhat greater - but nevertheless - not great.

There is such a thing as an emergency descent in less than 10 minutes. you can descend to a height of 3-4 km. But the sensations during such a descent will not be very pleasant; here on the ground your ears will ring from the sharp pressure drop, and even more so in the stratosphere.

Here are some more interesting points:

Aircraft most flights are carried out at high altitudes, for good reasons: safety, comfort, economy. If an emergency occurs, the crew of an aircraft located at a high altitude has a greater reserve of time and opportunities to cope with it. In cold, rarefied air there is less resistance to movement, fuel is saved and engines are cooled better. At high altitudes there are no insects and birds, and there are fewer strong and multidirectional air currents that cause turbulence (for example, when air goes down around cumulus clouds and up between them).

In simple words, turbulence can be explained as follows: the plane moves through the air, as if on a tightly stretched carpet. Under favorable conditions, the pressure on the surface of the “carpet” is distributed evenly; it is even and smooth. But as soon as conditions change, folds and wrinkles appear along the “carpet of air.” Passengers feel this and it seems to them that the plane is diving into a hole. But their sensations deceive them: the plane does not fall and does not fail anywhere, but glides further (only not on a flat surface, but on a wavy surface).

If the engine fails, the plane does not roll or fall into a dive or spin - the thrust simply drops. The engines accelerate the plane, not steer it.

Even if all engines fail, they will still operate in autorotation mode (in this case, the energy required to rotate the engine is taken from the air flow incident on it). This allows the plane not to fall, but to glide (flying, if necessary, more than 100 km) and land safely at the nearest airport.

More about aviation: let’s remember about, but, well,

Many people wonder: why are the windows on an airplane rounded, and not square like regular windows or, for example, not triangular?

The answer is elementary simple. The very shape of the aircraft without corners, the rounded shape of the windows, as well as hatches and doors, is necessary for safety. Roundness allows you to evenly distribute the load from the difference in temperature and pressure, which prevents the occurrence of cracks, and subsequently the depressurization of the cabin and the tearing of the aircraft into pieces.

To explain it in more scientific terms, it looks like this: when a plane gains altitude, the external pressure drops faster than the internal pressure - this creates a pressure difference between the inside and outside of the plane, causing the body to expand.

When the material of the housing changes its shape, tension is created in it. The material expands due to the fact that the stress constantly increases, eventually the stress reaches the limit that the material can collapse.

On airplanes, the shape of the windows greatly affects the voltage level. Tension easily passes through the material without damage, if there are no obstacles such as a window in its path, in a given place it needs to change direction, and this causes an increase in pressure. This is called stress concentration.

By comparing the effect of round and square windows on stress concentration, you can see that square windows create a greater barrier to stress passage. This means that tension is created at the corners of square windows.

The extreme increase in stress concentration causes the formation of housing cracks in these places. Such cracks led to tragic disasters until studies of destroyed aircraft made it possible to study the nature of the occurrence of stress in materials. That is, based on this, it becomes obvious why the windows on airplanes today are round, as well as all the load-bearing parts of the body, hatches, and doors are rounded. It’s good that the designers came to such a decision, and the passengers are now safe.

16.08.2018 , 09:39 58719

One day I was traveling with a friend; it was his first time on an airplane. During boarding we were asked. The friend laughed nervously, adding: “Okay, at least just curtains. The pilots also open their windows and probably smoke. As soon as they’re not afraid to fall out?” And then I remembered, when boarding the plane, the pilots actually had their side windows open. Why do pilots need windows that open?

In fact, the side opening windows are not needed for smoking or for spectacular selfies, and not even for ventilation during the flight. During a flight at an altitude of 9-12 km, the air temperature outside drops to −50 degrees. Secondly, there is little oxygen there; if you open the window, a person would simply pass out from the lack of it. Thirdly, high pressure and strong air pressure would not allow one to lean out of the window and take a selfie during the flight, and besides, the cabin instantly depressurized.

What is a window actually for?

An opening window in an airplane cabin is an emergency exit. The fact is that the door separating the cockpit from the main passenger plane- armored and protected by a combination lock. When emergency landing its jamming is possible. Although in this case, it may happen that there is no time left to open the door; it is easier to open the window and get out through it. Also, in the event of a plane being hijacked by terrorists, the pilots, as a last resort, will be able to leave the plane, bypassing the passenger cabin. In case of capture, security officers can enter through the window and make their way through the cockpit into the passenger cabin to neutralize the invaders.

Fortunately, in practice, windows are rarely used for their intended purpose. Sometimes this opening window is used to simply wash the front windows...