Is it a safety issue or a tribute to beauty? And are there any other changes to the design of the aircraft?
Any angles, especially right angles and sharp angles, as well as welds, holes, and all other necessary structural features that break the continuity of the material, act as stress concentrators. In other words, they become the weak point of the structure, where cracks will first begin to form.
During cyclic loading (and every airplane flight is just such a cycle), these stress concentrators are the main factors that reduce the strength of the entire structure. Cracks will begin to propagate from the corners of the rectangular porthole. This can lead to the loss of the aircraft.
At the dawn of the passenger jet industry, the British company De Havilland created an airliner called the Comet, which was completely unique for the 1950s in terms of its speed and technical characteristics. But in 1954, two Comets crashed in midair, killing 56 people.
In the wake of the tragedies, additional tests of the manufactured aircraft began, which showed that under cyclic pressure on the cockpit, the fuselage eventually cracks, and cracks form in the right angles of the windows.
The concept of the aircraft has already been developed, which will not have any windows, and instead will have cameras installed on the outside of the fuselage that will broadcast images overboard to panoramic displays inside…
Since then, aircraft designers have given up trying to create an airplane with square windows. Today, their shape varies from round to oval. There are also projects of passenger aircraft without windows at all.
For example, the French company Technicon Design has developed a concept for an airplane that will not have any windows, but instead will have cameras installed on the outside of the fuselage that will broadcast images overboard to panoramic displays inside.
Perhaps such technologies will eventually be implemented in passenger aircraft construction, but for now we have the opportunity to admire the landscapes of the Earth through oval windows.
