Lightning damage prediction to carbon fiber composite laminates driven by thermal-chemical-mechanical coupling

Lightning damage prediction to carbon fiber composite laminates driven by thermal-chemical-mechanical coupling | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Lightning damage prediction to carbon fiber composite laminates driven by thermal-chemical-mechanical coupling Mei Li, Jiazhou Zhang, Xu Lu, Jiabin Guo, Peilin Hou, Xinyang Long, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6992260/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract During a lightning strike, various mechanical loadings induced by lightning arc contribute to the degradation and failure of composites. So far, numerical research has mainly concentrated on modeling the resistive heating with or without consideration of certain thermal induced mechanical effects. This paper aims to develop a fully coupled thermal-chemical-mechanical finite element model to investigate the lightning-induced dynamic response and mechanical damage in carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminate under coupled effects of thermal ablation and comprehensive loadings from acoustic pressure, electromagnetic force and thermal expansion. The FE prediction is successfully validated with preceding experimental and numerical results available in the literature. The results quantify the potential contribution of mechanical loadings resulting from acoustic pressure, electromagnetic force and thermal expansion on dynamic response and damage. The predicted dynamic response shows that the acoustic pressure and thermal expansion occupy the main contribution to negative deflection at both sides of laminate whereas in the central region of laminate, the thermal expansion plays a leading role in the generation of positive deflection. The impact of mechanical loadings on in-plane damage of laminate is stronger than in-depth damage which however, is dominated by thermal ablation effect with its contribution of 86%. The predicted damage under various mechanical loadings suggests the consideration of thermal expansion makes a remarkable increment in matrix and delamination damage areas with their corresponding contribution of 104% and 108% whereas the presence of acoustic pressure and electromagnetic force tends to weaken these damages. composite laminates FE model mechanical loadings lightning damage Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6992260","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":483097747,"identity":"9a2bcca8-e047-4b31-8390-6b4691f437b1","order_by":0,"name":"Mei 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So far, numerical research has mainly concentrated on modeling the resistive heating with or without consideration of certain thermal induced mechanical effects. This paper aims to develop a fully coupled thermal-chemical-mechanical finite element model to investigate the lightning-induced dynamic response and mechanical damage in carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminate under coupled effects of thermal ablation and comprehensive loadings from acoustic pressure, electromagnetic force and thermal expansion. The FE prediction is successfully validated with preceding experimental and numerical results available in the literature. 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