Abstract
Lightning protective design of an aircraft fuel system is closely related to the safety of the flight. Recently, composite material in building an aircraft becomes more important because it can reduce the weight of the aircraft. The composite materials decrease the protection against the effect of lightning. Lightning protective design of metal material aircraft has been researched for a long time and the design technique has been announced widely. However, research on the lightning protective design using composite material aircraft is very limited. In this study, lightning protective design for fuel tank structural component, access cover, fuel filler cap and drain valve in carbon fiber composite material aircraft have been presented. To show the compliance with FAA airworthiness standard regarding the presented protection designs, three steps, including lightning strike analysis, lightning environment analysis and certification test, were conducted in accordance with FAA AC 20-53.
