Electric Field Distribution on Surface of Metamaterial under Lightning Impulse

In the aircrafts, metamaterials, by virtue of the special performance, have been widely used in the radome area, which is also the possible initial lightning attachment place during flight in thunderstorm days. In order to study the lightning attachment behavior of metamaterial, we analyze the electric field intensity distribution of the metamaterial plate in the vicinity of a lightning leader, and for the sake of comparison, similar analyses are also conducted to the insulated plate. It is found that there is a significant difference in electrical properties between metamaterials and insulated materials. Moreover, after arranging the antenna below the plates, the lightning is more likely to attach to the surface of the metamaterial than to the insulated plate. Furthermore, it appears that the lightning diverter strips, which are used to divert the lightning current to ground of aircraft, has better protection effect for the insulated materials than for the metamaterial one. Obtained results can provide a guiding significance to the application of metamaterial in regard of its lightning protection.