Lightning Currents on Fastening Assemblies of Aircraft Fuel Tank - Part I : Uncertainties Assesment with Statistical Approach

Paul Monferran (1) , Christophe Guiffaut (1) , Alain Reineix (1) , Fustin Fabian , Fabrice Tristant (2)

1 XLIM-SRF - Systèmes RF
2 Dassault Aviation

This paper proposes a statistical approach able to assess the fastening resistances uncertainties in aircraft assemblies. This method relies on the use of the maximum likelihood estimation method, several statistical tests and/or statistical criteria. Using the Dassault-Aviation measurement database, distribution laws are established in order to characterize uncertainties in the lightning impact on the fasteners. A simple FDTD fastener model is proposed with a wire and a resistance. This generic model can represent any fasteners. The statistical model established from the fastener resistances state after a lightning shot is used to define the stochastic distribution values in the fastener electric model. This model is added to a 3D FDTD parallelepiped generic fuel tank model. In this article, we compare the current distributions between a composite and metallic fuel tank. The results highlight not only the model uncertainties effects on the statistical approach but also the fuel tank material choice impact. Index Terms-Statistical method, finite-difference timedomain (FDTD) modelling, fastener modeling, lightning effects, fuel tank aircraft, composite material.

Domaines: Electromagnétisme

Paul Monferran, Christophe Guiffaut, Alain Reineix, Fustin Fabian, Fabrice Tristant. Lightning Currents on Fastening Assemblies of Aircraft Fuel Tank - Part I : Uncertainties Assesment with Statistical Approach. IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility, 2019, 62 (3), ⟨10.1109/TEMC.2019.2923101⟩. ⟨hal-02350548⟩