Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed a computational model to simulate lightning strikes on aircraft, insights from which they said could help design better protective measures.
Lightning strikes can cause damage to the aircraft surface, disrupt electrical and electronic systems, and in extreme cases, ignite the fuel-air mixture around the engine to set off explosions.
Udaya Kumar, professor at IISc’s department of electrical engineering, said an aircraft gets struck by lightning once every 1,000 hours.
Researchers in Kumar’s lab who have been studying lightning strikes developed the model as an alternative to “grossly oversimplified” methods to identify parts of the aircraft that are most frequently hit.
