Automatic System Using LabVIEW for Testing and Locating Lightning Damage in Aircraft Composites

In the event of a lightning strike, aircraft composite structures can suffer major and severe core damage even when surface damage is minor. Large core damage, such as decimation, can cause cracks in conductive surface/path, reducing the effectiveness of lightning protection and electromagnetic shielding. Therefore, nondestructive testing can provide useful information for comprehensive analysis of lightning strike protection and electromagnetic shielding. This paper briefly compares nondestructive testing methods, including ultrasonic test, embedded optical fiber, and electrical impedance tomography. In addition, the development of automatic testing systems using LabVIEW for damage detection in composite materials are presented. Developed systems using electrical impedance tomography to detect damage in conductive layer of composite structures. Moreover, a measurement strategy to eliminate noise and mismatch is proposed. Verification using sample with artificial damage demonstrates the potential application of the developed systems to detect lightning damage in aircraft composite structures.