Ablation damage characteristic and residual strength prediction of carbon fiber/epoxy composite suffered from lightning strike

Abstract Ablation damage characteristic of carbon fiber/epoxy composite laminate suffered from lightning strike was studied by the coupled thermal–electrical–structural analysis and element deletion. Residual strength of composite laminate after lightning strike ablation was globally predicted by Hashin criterion. Results show that lightning ablation effects decrease with the increasing electrical conductivity or specific heat, while thermal conductivity has little influence on them. Residual strength of composite laminate is generally greater than 80% and decreases with the increasing peak current or ratio of time to the maximum current and that to 50% of the maximum current under static tensile load. The work can provide detailed technical support for lightning damage evaluation and residual strength prediction of aircraft carbon fiber/epoxy composite laminates in theory, which is seldom reported compared with lightning test researches available up to now.