Why Are Ship Windows Rounded? – Webtekno

This situation arbitrary design difference You might think that it is, but the situation is very different from what was expected. Because the rounded or angular windows on ships affect these vessels in many ways, from life safety to durability.

Unlike these window formats that we are familiar with seeing and using What are the advantages of round ones? Let’s take a closer look at it.

To understand the logic behind the roundness of ship windows, let’s first talk about airplane windows.

The windows used in airplanes in the 1950s were different from their current form. it was angular not round. The reason why engineers started to design them round was the successive accidents at that time.

Although these accidents were thought to be pilot error at first, they were actually caused by design mistakes and the problem was, was in the angular windows of the plane. During the flight, these windows were cracked, and then the fuselage of the plane was damaged at these points.

After all this, airplane windows, started to be designed in round and oval shape and it continues to maintain the same shape today.

So what was the main reason why these angular glasses were inviting big problems?

Airplanes need high altitudes for a more comfortable flight, and in this way, drift and turbulence are minimized. However, there are some downsides to flying at such high altitudes, and the first is that the atmospheric pressure is very low at high altitudes.

As the aircraft rises, the in-cab and out-of-cabin pressure differs, so adjusting the interior pressure in the cabin is essential for crew survival. Ideally, this pressure should be distributed across the plane as evenly as possible. but windows in certain parts of the body direct the pressure to the sides.

In addition, every angular structure contains weak points in terms of structure.

The reason for this is that the force per unit area at the sharp corners increases exponentially. The yellow, green and red colors in the corners in the photo are also the magnitude of the stress at those points reflects.

This object, on which force is applied in aircraft and ships, Stacks in the corners are colored red if they are high.Although the stretching amount of the parts that are not sharp and have different ovalities is low, they are expressed in yellow and green colors.

These ovals are caused by the air pressure on the plane or the ship, spreading in the form of rounded curves over the entire surface and aims to prevent most possible damage and accidents.

Let’s come to the ship windows.

The building materials that make up wooden ships, and especially wet wood, are encountered in the material. was highly resistant to fatigue stress and the first ships were made from this raw material. It was possible to come across rectangular and square shaped windows quite frequently in the periods when wooden ships were popular.

By the end of the 19th century, however, merchant ships with steel hulls became quite common, followed by warships. Over time, engineers realized that these angular windows were a design flaw, and Saying goodbye to wooden materials, square and rectangular windows came to an end.

In addition, it was understood that angular windows caused metal fatigue, and then circular portholes and rounded corners were started to be designed for deck covers.

These round windows were actually created during the movement of ships at sea. resistance to high pressure and traction forces provides. In addition, round shapes take up much less space on ships than angular windows and help to use the limited space on board much more efficiently.

For all these reasons, in many architectural designs that are desired to be resistant and robust, oval and round shapes as much as possible, avoiding sharp corners preferable. Again, circular shapes are much more resistant to deformations, regardless of whether it is an aircraft or a sea vehicle, and it is much easier to shape the glass in a round shape.