Aircraft charging using ion emission for lightning strike mitigation : an experimental study

Lighting strikes are a problem for aircraft flying in large external electric fields. In most cases, the strike is triggered by the aircraft; as it flies through an electric field, it becomes polarized, and on areas with small radius of curvature, the electric field is magnified. This can result in bidirectional leaders which extend from opposite polarity aircraft extremities. These can connect to oppositely charged regions in a cloud or the ground, resulting in a lightning strike. Current methods to avoid lightning are limited to avoiding thunderstorm regions, as recommended by weather radar or conversations between pilots and the ground. Methods to treat the symptom of a strike have been relatively successful; a mesh placed under the skin of the aircraft can distribute the current and heat of the localized strike. However, there are currently no active measures to prevent the strike from happening.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Mouratidis, Theodore.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Manuel Martinez Sanchez and Carmen Guerra Garcia.

• Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122708

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/122708