The topic that will be discussed and reflected on is, “why did the De Havilland Comet aircrafts unexplainably torn apart in mid-flight? The topic is related to the events which occurred in the early 1950’s, when aircrafts named the “De Havilland Comets” mysteriously tore apart in the middle of the flight. The purpose of this essay is to investigate and reflect on why these aircrafts went down. The main points that will be discussed are, why the “De Havilland Comet” planes tore apart in mid-flight, the ideas of stress concentration, the engineering reflection of what went wrong, how engineering’s in the future can learn from this and what it takes to be an engineer in today’s world.
On 3 March 1953 the first De Havilland Comet when down near Calcutta. It was believed that the reasoning behind this accident was excessive stress from the fatigue of the aircrafts body from a tropical storm (WITHEY, 1997). However in the span of 3 months there were two other aircrafts that went down and had similar damage to their cabin bodies to the first aircraft (James, n.d.). After these accidents the whole fleet was grounded until the problem was found.
Tests were conducted where the cabin of the Comet G-ALYU was pressurised using water and the loading on the wings simulated using hydraulic rams (WITHEY, 1997). These tests allowed for the situation of flying to be accelerated so testing would be quicker. After 3057 flight cycles at 11psi, it was found that cracks where observed on the corners of one of the windows, causing 4.5m of the cabin wall to be removed (WITHEY, 1997). This would cause depressurisation in the cabin, hence creating an explosion with a force of 220kg bomb (Lienhard, 1997). Wreckage from the first aircraft to go down was reco...
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...egories: basic engineering, energy conversion, energy resources, engineering & technology management, environment and transportation, manufacturing, materials and structures, systems and design (Careercornerstone.org, n.d.). The role of an engineers in society is to take a mathematical or scientific problem and solve in a way that improves the quality of life within society as a whole.
In conclusion it was found that the reason the De Havilland Comet aircrafts torn apart in mid-flight was because of poor design choice of using square windows instead of round windows in the aircraft. This is because fatigue failure was detected during tests at the corner of one of the windows at the blot hole, causing a crack to appear. This led to 4.5m of the wall to be removed causing depressurisation in the cabin, hence the cause the aircrafts being torn apart from an explosion.
In today’s world, the use of airplanes in wars or in everyday life has become a part of how we live as human beings. Removing the air forces of the world is like taking a step back in time when wars were only fought on land or sea. WWI began only eleven short years after the Wright brothers achieved powered flight in 19031 and yet aircrafts were being used for surveillance and eventually combat purposes. It is understood that these aircrafts were primitive, but they laid down the foundation for what we know today as fighter jets. The Fokker Eindecker “revolutionized air combat by successfully employing a synchronized forward -firing machine gun mounted on the engine cowling”2. Because this airplane became the first to successfully use a synchronized machine gun, it allowed its pilots to become the first aerial combat tactitions3.
Ever since I was little I was amazed at the ability for a machine to fly. I have always wanted to explore ideas of flight and be able to actually fly. I think I may have found my childhood fantasy in the world of aeronautical engineering. The object of my paper is to give me more insight on my future career as an aeronautical engineer. This paper was also to give me ideas of the physics of flight and be to apply those physics of flight to compete in a high school competition.
The Challenger shuttle crash was a crash that touched the hearts of every American due to the televised coverage and the relate ability of the crew. There was concern from the engineers that the unusually cold weather the morning of the launch could have adverse affects on the rubber O-rings that sealed the joints of the shuttles solid rocket boosters. The cold weather on the morning of January 28, 1986 caused the O-rings to tear and leak fuel from the boosters. (Dunbar B, 2005)
Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Report - The Planes - Popularmechanics.com. (n.d.). Automotive Care, Home Improvement, Tools, DIY Tips - Popularmechanics.com. Retrieved April 26, 2010, from http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/news/debunking-911-myths-planes
Aviation was big during the 1920’s. The first airplanes that were developed were made of wood and canvas, they were later modernized and than made of an increasing amount of metal during this era. Airplanes were typically only used to carrying heavy loads and for wars, but during this era they were able to start taking passengers as well. It was only in 1927 that an airport terminal in the form of a waiting room and ticket-office for airplane passenger...
In its design of the Comet, De Havilland used two nonstandard design techniques that contributed significantly to the aircraft failures. The first was that the company heavily employed Redux metal-to-metal bonding in which a strong, light aluminum alloy was fixed to the frame of the aircraft with a very strong adhesive during the Redux process. The engineers based their decision to use that technique primarily on the fact that the Comet’s initial design had a large weight and that its four Ghost engines, also built by De Havilland, could not support it with their thrust.
On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia was lost due to structural failure in the left wing. On take-off, it was reported that a piece of foam insulation surrounding the shuttle fleet's 15-story external fuel tanks fell off of Columbia's tank and struck the shuttle's left wing. Extremely hot gas entered the front of Columbia's left wing just 16 seconds after the orbiter penetrated the hottest part of Earth's atmosphere on re-entry. The shuttle was equipped with hundreds of temperature sensors positioned at strategic locations. The salvaged flight recorded revealed that temperatures started to rise in the left wing leading edge a full minute before any trouble on the shuttle was noted. With a damaged left wing, Columbia started to drag left. The ships' flight control computers fought a losing battle trying to keep Columbia's nose pointed forward.
The brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright, possibly the two most renowned representatives of American aeronautics, were the first to experience controlled, continuous flight of a powered airplane in history. Despite being autodidactic in the area of engineering, the duo proved to be extraordinarily successful, testing and refining their strategies to overcome successive challenges that arose with the building of a plane (Crouch 226). The two were so far ahead in the race for flight that they even anticipated and found solutions to problems that more learned scientists could not have even begun to predict. Successful, man-controlled, powered flight was a fundamental turning point in history; it transformed the methods of how the United States fought its battles, powered developmental and technological change, revolutionized travel and trade, and provided help in forming the world into what it is today.
History Wing Introduction." Home Page for the Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company and Wright-brothers.org. 1999. Web. 10 Apr. 2011. .
The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the flightcrew to monitor the flight instrument during the final 4 minutes of flight, and to detect an unexpected descent soon enough to prevent impact with the ground. Preoccupation with a malfunction of the nose landing gear position indicating system distracted the crew's attention from the instruments and allowed the descent to go unnoticed.
after the discovery of the first aeroplane, there have been significant uprisings in the way
The idea of winglets was developed by F.W. Lancaster a British aerodynamicist in the late 1800s. However, it was not until an energy crisis in 1976, causing the price of fuel to skyrocket, that Richard Whitcomb, a NASA aerodynamicist, took Lancaster’s concept to the next step. Whitcomb soon published a comparison between a wing with a winglet and the same wing with a simple wing extension to increase its span. This paper showed significant improvement from the simple wing extension to the wing with the winglet. The winglet caused a reduction in drag and an improvement in the lift/drag ratio. Whitcomb proved that in theory the winglet would work, but it was Burt Rutan, an American aerospace engineer that went ahead and designed his ‘Vari-Eze’ to incorporate the ‘Whitcomb Wings’. “Rutan takes winglets from the drawi...
Electrical Engineers research, develop, design, and test electronic components, products, and systems for commercial, industrial, medical, military, and scientific applications (Cosgrove 749). They are concerned with devices that use small amounts of electricity that make up electronic components such as integrated circuits and microprocessors. By applying principles and techniques of electronic engineering they design, develop, and manufacture products such as computers, telephones, radios, and stereo systems (EGOE, 121). Electrical engineers touch everyone lives through the things they have designed or created. Electrical engineers have invented the lights in your house, the television, the stereo, the telephone, computers, and even your doctor’s blood pressure gauge (Stine 300).
Engineering is the application of scientific, economic design and a wide range of other specialized fields of engineering. As an engineer, there are four major different areas of engineering work that I can concern about, that is chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. Beyond this four, sources separate to other main branches. Based on the electrical engineering is concerned with the basic forms of energy that run the world, there is a hopeful future in taking this major as my direction of future. However, what exactly is the benefit of this major; am I suppose to choose this major; what kinds of job opportunities that I am able to get and various of other questions are what I concerned the most.
"Why Is Plane Maintenance So Important? -." Why Is Plane Maintenance So Important?. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Dec. 2013. .