IX International Symposium on Lightning Protection

26th-30th November 2007 Foz do Iguau, Brazil

ANALYSIS OF DIRECT EFFECTS OF LIGHTNING ON COMPOSITE STRUCTURES OF AIRCRAFT

Empresa Brasileira de Aeronutica, Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima 2170, 12227-901 So Jos dos Campos, SP Brasil

L F. Nunes de Souza and H. Librantz

luiz.nunes@embraer.com.br ; librantz@embraer.com.br Main authors address: luiz.nunes@embraer.com.br

Instituto Tecnolgico de Aeronutica, ComandoGeral de Tecnologia Aeroespacial, Pa Marechal Eduardo Gomes 50, 12228-900, So Jos dos Campos, SP, Brazil jayr@ita.br, adabo@ita.br

J. Amorim and G. Adabo

Abstract The increasing aviation world market demand for more economical aircraft has motivated, since the 50s, a search for lighter and with lower operational cost materials. In this context, the development of aircraft parts made of composite materials is mandatory for aircraft manufacturers. Hence, the overall objective of this work is to analyse the impact of a composite structure from the lightning effects point of view and its main consequences, focusing on some possible design considerations of carbon fiber composite wings. The basic effects of lightning mechanisms will be explained as the chief electrical characteristics of carbon fiber composite materials. Furthermore, a few possible structural configurations of a carbon fiber wing will be analysed with the aid of a computational tool. Thereby, different current distributions, based on different structural approaches, such as the materials of ribs, spars and possible alternative current paths (trailing and leading edges) will be analysed and compared, provided the lower power dissipated into carbon fiber structure, the lower is the chance of arching inside of the tank, all these points have a relevant role in this context. The results are quite conclusive, showing that some configurations decrease the amount of current which flows through the carbon fiber structure considerably and others prevent high surface current levels from occurring, which may reduce the chance of arching in metal carbon joints, mostly along bolts lines.

means a consequent reduction in fuel consumption and operational costs. Besides the weight reduction effort, the selection of composite materials will have significant impacts on the operational and final aircraft costs, since composite materials are more inexpensive and have easier manufacturing and maintenance processes. Despite all advantages, numberless challenges come out when the main parts of aircraft structure are made of CFC. Moreover, as far as a CFC wing is concerned, one of the ultimate issues is how to design lightning protections to avoid sparks inside of the fuel tank. In this context, the analysis of lightning current distribution is vital, since it is known either additional protections can be used in order to mitigate the risk of spark or different design approaches can be taken into account. The use of a computational tool to work out which design better meets the requirements of a project is crucial. In the following study, the chosen toll was Microwave Studio [1], owing to its accuracy and friendly interface. Additional information concerning the numerical methods used and details about a specific simulation will be omitted, but can be found in [4]. 2 LIGHTNING BASIC MECHANISMS According to [2], idealized lightning waveforms can be depicted as below:

1 INTRODUCTION Structure weight and the use of light materials have always been an important issue as far as commercial or military aircraft are concerned. When a modern transport aircraft takes off, only about 20% of its total weight is payload. The remaining 80%, roughly half is aircraft empty weight and the other half, fuel. Hence, any saving in structural weight can lead to a corresponding increase in payload and a decrease in power requirements, which

This structure is didactical, provided there is no current transfer along both elements (tube and blade) and consequently they could be considered as lumped elements, as depicted below:

A whole description of the waveforms and its correlated effects goes beyond the scope of this text (see [4]); however, since we are dealing with current transfer and possible arching related to that, it is important to notice that the main concern is the waveforms A and D, which contain the vast majority of the energy of a lightning strike. Hence, the focus of this study will be only on waveform A; nevertheless, owing to its similarity, it could be extended to waveform D. 3 REDISTRIBUTION EFFECT Redistribution effect is a process in which the division of the current changes from an initial state governed mostly by inductive effects to one governed by resistive effects. A simple example of redistribution can be seen in the structure below.

Fig 3 Blade Electrical Equivalent Circuit

Both simulations agree and shed some light on the phenomenon: During the very first microseconds of waveform A the inductive effect is hefty and as a consequence the vast majority of the current flows through the CFC part of the structure (blade), however, as time passes the resistive effect becomes more prominent and more and more current flows through the metal part of the structure (tube) The pictures below show the redistribution effect, according to the electrical model and a 3D model simulated by MWS.

Fig 4 Electrical Circuit Simulation Fig. 1 CFC flat panel and an aluminium tube

Fig. 2 Front view

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Fig 5 3D Simulation, using MWS

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Both pictures depict perfectly the idea of redistribution, showing how it might be strong in structures with metal and CFC, nonetheless, more complex structures, as a wing box for instance, have a much more complicated interaction between the two materials, making unfeasible any electrical representation. As can be noted in both pictures, the transition between the resistive and inductive states occurs around 45 s. From that on the metallic structure will carry the majority of the current. Furthermore, since waveform A lasts 500 s, the metallic part of the structure carries the major part of waveform A energy. 4 WING BOX A more actual example is shown below. A simple wing box (3m long x 2.2m wide) has four CFC spars and two CFC skin shells, with no metallic structure inside of it.

Fig 7 Current Waveforms in a CFC Wing Box

In the next example, the metallic parts were simulated as PEC and the CFC side spars were exchanged by metallic side spars having 15% of the entire cross section area, keeping the same dimensions of the previous ones. The results are shown below:

MetalSide Spars

Fig 8 CFC Wing Box with Metallic Spars

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Fig 6 CFC Wing Box

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Waveform A CFC Parts

The CFC chosen has a resistivity of 15.000 S/m. The current was injected and drained along the spars. It is interesting, because only due to geometric factors, the fast components of the waveform have the tendency to flow through the periphery of the box; however, the slow components have the same behaviour in the inner and outer parts of the box. Moreover, in this case the skin shells carry far more energy than the spars, as expected.

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Fig 9 Current Waveforms in a CFC Wing Box with metal side spars

In the figure above, it is important to notice that in spite of the fact the peak of current flowing into the skin shells reaches 140kA, its decay time (27 s) is short when compared to waveform A decay time (70 s), consequently the proportion of energy that this pulse carries is small. On the other hand, the side spars are responsible for carrying a good part of waveform A energy, having a much longer pulse and carrying the vast majority of waveform A energy. As a last example, instead of metal spars four metal strips were located along the central spars, on the top and bottom of the box on the skin shells. The strips are 60mm wide and 2mm thick and represent less than 1% of the whole area of the cross section.

Comparing figures 9 and 10, it is important to notice the amount of current carried by the metallic structure. Despite its higher value in figure 10, the total energy contained in this pulse is just 15% higher than the one contained in Fig 9, on the other hand the cross section area of the metallic structure in figure 8 is fifteen times higher than the one in figure 10. 5 CONCLUSION The results are quite conclusive, indicating that, as far as CFC structures are concerned, an electrical analysis of the design of the wing box is vital, since the usage of metal is inevitable, this approach could lead to the choose of the right design and consequently mitigate the risk of arching inside of the fuel tank (the lower the energy dissipated into the CFC structure, the lower the chance of arching inside of the tank). Otherwise, a wrong design consideration, from this point of view, could jeopardize the certification process of an aircraft. Furthermore, it is clear that in a development process the different designs taken into account must be carefully analyzed. Since the correct amount of metal and its correct location, from the lightning point of view, are crucial in order to increase the amount of energy dissipated into the metallic parts of the structure and then mitigate the risk of arching inside of the fuel tank. 6 REFERENCES

Metal Strips

Fig 10 CFC Wing Box with Metallic Strips

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[1] MWS Web site www.cst.com [2] Plumer, Perala, Fisher: Lightning protection of aircraft: Lightning, 2 edition 1999. [3] Rupke, Ed Lightning Direct Effects Handbook. [4] Krietenstein, B.; Schuhmann, R.; Thoma, P.; Weiland, T.: The Perfect Boundary Approximation technique facing the challenge of high precision field computation: Proc. of the XIX International Linear Accelerator Conference (LINAC98), Chicago, USA, pp. 860-862, 1998. [5]Aerospace recommended practice: ARP5412A Aircraft Lightning

Waveform A Skin Shells

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Fig 10 Current Waveforms in a CFC Wing Box with Metal strips