Mitigating lightning Direct Effects (DE) damage on aerospace vehicles is an important engineering challenge and is directly related to safety of flight. Depending on the threat level and materials involved, vehicle surfaces and other design features may need to be protected to help mitigate damage. Numerical simulation can provide insight into the amount of damage likely to occur during a lightning strike and can reduce the costs associated with an expensive testing program. We here present a new simulation tool for such analyses that we believe provides unique capabilities especially well-suited for the protection of aerospace platforms, and we apply this new tool to the analysis of lightning DE on an anisotropic composite surface. Our simulation tool is the combined framework of EMA3D and the Elmer thermal physics solver. This new analysis platform allows for the correct description of anisotropic materials at both the electrical and thermal level. By implementing DE analysis capabilities in EMA3D we find a comprehensive avenue through which to analyse a wide range of E3 concerns for an entire aerospace vehicle.

As an industry norm, the nozzle local loads are considered to be local and are not considered in foundation design. Presently, this norm is under debate. One opinion is some percent of these loads are to be considered to be transferred to the foundation. The horizontal forces on the foundation are more critical than vertical forces. Attempt has been made to understand the system and create a model which will represent the system to a good approximation. A mathematical model is developed to demonstrate the actual system. It is a stiffness system consisting of equipment, nozzle junction, and connected piping. The connected pipes are heated sequentially to generate nozzle loads in axial and out plane directions. Steady-state thermal loads are calculated for the given system stiffness. Governing parameters are identified and altered to note the effect. The governing parameters identified are equipment diameter (D), nozzle location on equipment (x), and nozzle diameter (d). The effect is studied for pressure range (20–120 bar) and temperature (100–400 °C). The results of percentage loads transferred with respect to the governing parameters are plotted. It is observed that nozzle loads in axial directions are transferred to the foundation almost 100%, whereas out plane loads are absorbed by the system to a greater extent. Further study is required to investigate combined effects of all such nozzle loads for single equipment. The results may be refined for different materials and effect of nozzle reinforcement.