Why are ship windows circular while airplane windows rectangular?

Answer 1

The constant up-and-down motion of a ship puts onsiderable stress on the ship's skin, or outer covering. If portholes were designed with angles, this stress would tend to concentrate at those points and perhaps crack the skin. With round portholes such stress is evenly distributed around the holes, making it less likely for such cracks to occur.

Airplanes have a full frame structure that can absorb the stress.

Answer 2

Aircraft windows are rectangular with rounded corners on some airplanes, but newer ones usually have elliptical windows; with the combined load of internal pressure and fuselage shear, an elliptical window surround structure is lightest. In business jets, the bodies are much shorter, the shear stresses are lower, so a circular window is not much of a weight penalty.

I believe ship windows are round because porthole covers can be opened; and like a manhole cover, only a round door cannot fall through the hole (it would be very bad in rough weather to be missing a porthole cover).

Answer 3

i am not sure why a ship uses round windows.
but as far as Aircraft it does not matter. Some private jets use round windows some use square. Under stand the windows on airplanes have rounded corners because sharp edges causes stress and will crack. Rounded corners will not. But look at the bridge of a ship the windows are not round. One reason a sub has round the round window can take allot more pressure that square.

Answer 4

Roger N got it right......as an addition, you'll see that the airplane windows have rounded corners, just so that stress doesn't concentrate there.....I believe the first commercial jet, the British Comet, had hard corner windows and more than a few blew out and they lost several......that's why there's rounded corners today.......

Answer 5

Yes the windows on the dh 106 comet => http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=5950256&nseq=1

But these aircraft often crashed => http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6-VIfWGUdE

But it was later discovered that the reason these aircraft were crasing s often was depresserisation from the circular windows pressure and speed but when they tested square windows te result was much better today wityh almost no crashes due to depessuerisation fro windows.


Cheers great question!

Answer 6

so people with big foreheads can see out the window

Answer 7

because if a bird flys into a window their more rectangular in shape and if a fish leaps out of the water and hits the ships window, their more circular in shape. >.< thats a very random question by the way

Answer 8

How the hell would I know? I just build and fix them, I don't design them! Engineer's design all kinds of stupidity in my opinion for no reason except to pretend to be important and drive mechanic's insane.