Visualization of lightning impulse current discharge on CFRP laminate

Understanding the Impact of Standardized SAE Waveform Parameter Variation on Artificial Lightning Plasma, Specimen Loading, and Composite Material Damage

“…Considering plasma behavior, very limited experimental work is available on the influence of waveform parameters on the lightning plasma properties. Sonehara et al [40] attempted to visually observe the behavior occurring between the discharge probe and the specimen using high-speed video cameras and Schlieren photography. In this work, two electrodes were compared with both CFRP and Aluminum specimens under five test conditions.…”

“…The work of Sonehara et al [40], for scaled Waveform A, was used to benchmark the general trends found in these plasma simulations. Specimen A-1 (19.76kA) and A-2 (40.82kA) were used to discuss the effects of peak current since these represented a 107% increase in the waveform peak current parameter with only a small variation in their waveform time periods (< 0.5%).…”

Modelling of mechanical failure due to constrained thermal expansion at the lightning arc attachment point in carbon fibre epoxy composite material

“…Examination of composite specimens under these standardised test conditions suggests that mechanical loading contributes to some aspects of lightning strike damage [6][7][8]. Experimental results on composite specimens typically exhibit three damage modes; material ablation and decomposition, fractured fibres and cracked matrix material, and delamination of the laminate [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18].…”

“…However, there is still limited understanding of the mechanisms during a lightning strike which lead to damage, partly due to the complex thermal, electrical, electromagnetic and mechanical components of the event [19][20][21], and partly due to the limited number of artificial lightning strike tests which have been published. The major challenge with testing is the speed and intensity of a lightning strike which makes it very difficult to directly acquire high resolution physical measurements during a test [13]. Post-test inspection of the damage is also complicated given the different damage modes, their interconnections and the damage concentration at the lightning arc attachment point.…”

“…First focusing on experimental studies [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] these have identified the previously noted damage modes occurring in composite specimens. However a significant range in the form and scale of each type of damage is found generally in the literature.…”