#real engineering

NEED to know where brian got this jacket

ben: ruthie

sam: kit

adam: felicity

toby: caroline

brian: molly

shia: bo

joseph: josefina

scotty: kirsten

jt: saige

dave: samantha

michelle: kavi

amy: rebecca

i've just published two new fics with completely different vibes. something for everyone!

Colorado Stables // wc 1157, ben/adam, cute romance story https://archiveofourown.org/works/55449898

What's your name again? // wc 4610, sam/ben + brian/sam, angsty/hurt comfort/lots of drama https://archiveofourown.org/works/55450015

(via The Questionable Engineering of Oceangate - YouTube)

from Real Engineering:

Why are plane windows round?

We often learn the most from our failures, this is particularly true for advancements in the field of engineering. Unfortunately for the engineers in the aviation industry, the prices to pay for failure are high. This will be a reoccurring theme in my videos, trust me. The flip-side of this unforgiving industry, is that it consistently provides learning opportunities for engineers, because failure is not an option when peoples lives are at risk.

One of the greatest examples of this occurred during the development of cabin pressurisation. The problems caused by cabin pressurisation didn’t develop until the introduction of the first commercial jet powered aircraft, The De Havilland Comet. It entered service in 1952 and initially proved to be a massive success, but just one year into service catastrophe struck. Three Comets suffered fatal mid-flight disintegrations and the entire fleet was grounded until the cause was identified.

The root of the problem was double-edged. The introduction of jet engines required planes to fly even higher in order to make the fuel hungry engines economically viable (less drag in the upper atmosphere means less fuel is needed). As a plane increases in altitude the external atmospheric pressure lowers to a greater extent than the internal cabin pressure. This creates a pressure differential that causes the fuselage to expand ever so slightly. Engineers accounted for this, but the effects of repeated pressure cycles over time were not well known at the time. Over thousands of cycles and metal begins to fatigue and cracks can form at high stress locations.

The effects of stress concentration were also not well understood at the time. Stress concentration occurs when the flow of stress is interrupted. Square windows, in contrast to modern oval windows, provide a significant barrier to the smooth flow of stress. Because of this stress peaks at the sharp corner of the window, and this is exactly where investigators determined the origin of failure to be.