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Preliminary Investigation into Modeling The Damage to Carbon Fibre Composites Due to the Thermo-electric Effects of a Lightning Strikes

Preliminary Investigation into Modeling The Damage to Carbon Fibre Composites Due to the Thermo-electric Effects of a Lightning Strikes
Preliminary Investigation into Modeling The Damage to Carbon Fibre Composites Due to the Thermo-electric Effects of a Lightning Strikes
The impact of a lightning strike causes a short high electrical current burst through Carbon Fibre Composites (CFC). Due to the electrical properties of CFC the large current leads to a rapid heating of the surrounding impact area which degrades and damages the CFC. It is therefore necessary to study in detail the thermal response and possible degradation processes caused to CFC. The degradation takes place in two ways, firstly via direct mechanical fracture due to the thermal expansion of the CFC and secondly via thermo-chemical processes (phase change and pyrolysis) at high temperatures. The main objective of this work is to construct a numerical model of the major physical processes involved, and to understand the correlation between the damage mechanisms and the damage witnessed in modern CFC. For this work we are only considering the thermo-chemical degradation of CFC. Bespoke numerical models have been constructed to predict the extent of the damage caused by the two thermo-chemical processes separately (e.g. a model for phase change and a model for pyrolysis). The numerical model predictions have then been verified experimental by decoupling of the damage mechanisms, e.g. the real Joule heating from a lightning strike is replaced by a high power laser beam acting on composite surface. This was done to simplify the physical processes which occur when a sample is damaged. The experimentally damaged samples were then investigated using X-ray tomography to determine the physical extent of the damage. The experimental results are then compared with the numerical predictions by considering the physical extent of the polymer removal. The extent of polymer removal predicted by the numerical model, solving for pyrolysis, gave a reasonable agreement with the damage seen in the experimental sample. Furthermore the numerical model predicts that the damage caused by polymer phase change has a minimal contribution to the overall extent of the damage.
24
Chippendale, Richard
cf41605b-ee11-4205-a817-b8519215deb6
Golosnoy, Igor O.
40603f91-7488-49ea-830f-24dd930573d1
Lewin, Paul
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Murugan, G.S.
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Lambert, J.
dcb3b31b-375d-4c4c-aa1e-d7ade3c79fc0
Chippendale, Richard
cf41605b-ee11-4205-a817-b8519215deb6
Golosnoy, Igor O.
40603f91-7488-49ea-830f-24dd930573d1
Lewin, Paul
78b4fc49-1cb3-4db9-ba90-3ae70c0f639e
Murugan, G.S.
a867686e-0535-46cc-ad85-c2342086b25b
Lambert, J.
dcb3b31b-375d-4c4c-aa1e-d7ade3c79fc0

Chippendale, Richard, Golosnoy, Igor O., Lewin, Paul, Murugan, G.S. and Lambert, J. (2011) Preliminary Investigation into Modeling The Damage to Carbon Fibre Composites Due to the Thermo-electric Effects of a Lightning Strikes. UHVnet 2011, Winchester, United Kingdom. 18 - 19 Jan 2011. p. 24 .

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Other)

Abstract

The impact of a lightning strike causes a short high electrical current burst through Carbon Fibre Composites (CFC). Due to the electrical properties of CFC the large current leads to a rapid heating of the surrounding impact area which degrades and damages the CFC. It is therefore necessary to study in detail the thermal response and possible degradation processes caused to CFC. The degradation takes place in two ways, firstly via direct mechanical fracture due to the thermal expansion of the CFC and secondly via thermo-chemical processes (phase change and pyrolysis) at high temperatures. The main objective of this work is to construct a numerical model of the major physical processes involved, and to understand the correlation between the damage mechanisms and the damage witnessed in modern CFC. For this work we are only considering the thermo-chemical degradation of CFC. Bespoke numerical models have been constructed to predict the extent of the damage caused by the two thermo-chemical processes separately (e.g. a model for phase change and a model for pyrolysis). The numerical model predictions have then been verified experimental by decoupling of the damage mechanisms, e.g. the real Joule heating from a lightning strike is replaced by a high power laser beam acting on composite surface. This was done to simplify the physical processes which occur when a sample is damaged. The experimentally damaged samples were then investigated using X-ray tomography to determine the physical extent of the damage. The experimental results are then compared with the numerical predictions by considering the physical extent of the polymer removal. The extent of polymer removal predicted by the numerical model, solving for pyrolysis, gave a reasonable agreement with the damage seen in the experimental sample. Furthermore the numerical model predicts that the damage caused by polymer phase change has a minimal contribution to the overall extent of the damage.

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Published date: 18 January 2011
Venue - Dates: UHVnet 2011, Winchester, United Kingdom, 2011-01-18 - 2011-01-19
Organisations: Optoelectronics Research Centre, Electronics & Computer Science, EEE

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 271889
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/271889
PURE UUID: c2b08a2d-af01-4121-bef3-1e342f1a74f1
ORCID for Paul Lewin: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3299-2556
ORCID for G.S. Murugan: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2733-3273

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 07 Jan 2011 17:46
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:23

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Contributors

Author: Richard Chippendale
Author: Igor O. Golosnoy
Author: Paul Lewin ORCID iD
Author: G.S. Murugan ORCID iD
Author: J. Lambert

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