Development of Lightweight Commercial Aircraft Windshields with New High Strength Glasses,
Abstract
To evaluate the effect of increased surface compression on failure resistance, it was necessary to test instrumented windshields and measure surface stress versus velocity for different designs. A resulting test program included 164 bird impacts against 28 full-size, flat windshields incorporating different interlayers and glass plies of varying thicknesses at varying locations and temperature conditions. This paper presents the results of the program in the form of stress-velocity curves and pass-fail results for different designs. It also shows the evolution of a design which features a thick high strength thermally tempered core for load carrying and a thin chemically strengthened inboard ply to enhance fail-safe yet survive the stresses which occur during impact. The thick/thin high strength glass windshield met all bird impact qualification tests at Boeing and subsequent thermal-pressure certification. This design concept was also employed for lighter weight retrofit applications for other commercial aircraft windshields.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1983
- Accession Number
- ADP003190
Entities
People
- H. E. Littell Jr
- W. E. Gourley