FRAGILITY RATING FOR AIRCRAFT EQUIPMENT: (POTENTIAL AID TO PACKAGE CUSHION DESIGN)

Some things are more fragile than others. It seems possible to classify things according to some fragility index just as one might classify by color, by weight or by any other common sorting characteristic. Such an index or rating would be extremely useful to packaging engineers and depending upon its nature and accuracy, might be interesting and useful to design engineers. Based on masses mounted on springs, it is possible to calculate useful values of numbers of “g's” and undamped periods for things having simple systems, and a fragility rating composed of these two components is proposed. To obtain this rating experimentally on more complex assemblies may appear costly although economies might still be effected in some broader aspects to justify destructive testing. This paper also poses some of the problems attendent to the determination and use of such a rating.