Lightning test laboratories have been created in USA, Europe, Referenced documents and other sources are inserted into the Japan and other places around the world for engineering and electronic file of this paper certification tests of new aircraft. The potential lightning hazards to integral fuel tanks have been widely recognized and are being addressed by engineering design and testing. Modern requirements necessitate that fuel tanks and the systems installed within them be capable of surviving the effects of lightning currents up to 200,000 A with possible manufacturing defects, maintenance errors and effects of service environments considered. The role of numerical simulation using advanced computers capable of throughout complex solving Maxwell’s equations structures is well recognized and widely employed to compute the magnitudes of lightning currents throughout the interiors of aircraft structures, both for protection of aircraft fuel tanks and systems installed within these structures, and for evaluation of exposures of Electrical and Avionic systems and equipment to lightning-induced effects. Full Scale Lightning Test on Wing Fuel Tank (Mitsubishi Aircraft Photo) Measurements of lightning-induced transients in electrical wiring (Mitsubishi Aircraft Photo) High Voltage Generator at NTS Lightning Technologies Mitsubishi Regional Jet (Mitsubishi Aircraft Photo 2016) The result of all of this activity over more than eighty years is that modern airplanes can be made safe from hazards due to lightning strikes. One of the most recent examples of airplanes to benefit from all of this work and the tools that are now available is the Mitsubishi Regional Jet, pictured above and at left. The future will continue to bring challenges to engineering and testing as aircraft technologies continue to change, and additional atmospheric electric environments will be encountered as even flights in the stratosphere begin to happen more routinely. Acknowledgements The author would like to acknowledge his predecessors, Dr. Karl B. McEachron and Julius Hagenguth who participated actively in the early research into lightning and its effects on airplanes, and in the work of the Special Subcommittee on Lightning Hazard to Aircraft in the and 1930’s 1940’s. Gratitude is also due to all of those in the aircraft industry, regulatory authorities, academia, and the technical committees at work today to keep abreast of advancing technologies so that flight safety is always maintained. References
Lightning test laboratories have been created in USA, Europe, Japan and other places around the world for engineering and certification tests of new aircraft. The potential lightning hazards to integral fuel tanks have been widely recognized and are being addressed by engineering design and testing. Modern requirements necessitate that fuel tanks and the systems installed within them be capable of surviving the effects of lightning currents up to 200,000 A with possible manufacturing defects, maintenance errors and effects of service environments considered. The role of numerical simulation using advanced computers capable of solving Maxwell’s equations throughout complex structures is well recognized and widely employed to compute the magnitudes of lightning currents throughout the interiors of aircraft structures, both for protection of aircraft fuel tanks and systems installed within these structures, and for evaluation of exposures of Electrical and Avionic systems and equipment to lightning-induced effects. Full Scale Lightning Test on Wing Fuel Tank (Mitsubishi Aircraft Photo) Measurements of lightning-induced transients in electrical wiring (Mitsubishi Aircraft Photo) High Voltage Generator at NTS Lightning Technologies Mitsubishi Regional Jet (Mitsubishi Aircraft Photo 2016) The result of all of this activity over more than eighty years is that modern airplanes can be made safe from hazards due to lightning strikes. One of the most recent examples of airplanes to benefit from all of this work and the tools that are now available is the Mitsubishi Regional Jet, pictured above and at left. The future will continue to bring challenges to engineering and testing as aircraft technologies continue to change, and additional atmospheric electric environments will be encountered as even flights in the stratosphere begin to happen more routinely. Acknowledgements The author would like to acknowledge his predecessors, Dr. Karl B. McEachron and Julius Hagenguth who participated actively in the early research into lightning and its effects on airplanes, and in the work of the Special Subcommittee on Lightning Hazard to Aircraft in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Gratitude is also due to all of those in the aircraft industry, regulatory authorities, academia, and the technical committees at work today to keep abreast of advancing technologies so that flight safety is always maintained. References Referenced documents and other sources are inserted into the electronic file of this paper
ICOLSE2017-Andy_Plumer_Invited_Lecture.docx