MIT Engineers Develop Physics-Based Tool to Predict Lightning Strikes on Future Aircraft Designs
- MM24 News Desk
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
MIT aerospace engineers have created a revolutionary physics-based tool that predicts how lightning will strike and sweep across next-generation aircraft with unconventional designs.
This approach, validated on conventional planes, generates zoning maps to identify vulnerable sections, enabling designers to optimize lightning protection systems for blended-wing and truss-braced configurations that defy traditional "tube-and-wing" geometry.
Every day, more than 70 aircraft are struck by lightning. While current protection systems work remarkably well, they're designed for traditional airplane shapes. The aviation industry's push toward radical new designs—like blended-wing bodies for better fuel efficiency—poses a critical safety question: how will lightning behave on these untested geometries? A team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has now developed a solution that could protect the airplanes of tomorrow.
“People are starting to conceive aircraft that look very different from what we’re used to, and we can’t apply exactly what we know from historical data to these new configurations because they’re just too different,” says Carmen Guerra-Garcia, associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT.
“Physics-based methods are universal. They’re agnostic to the type of geometry or vehicle. This is the path forward to be able to do this lightning zoning and protect future aircraft.” The team's findings appear this week in the journal IEEE Access.
The research, led by graduate student Nathanael Jenkins with co-authors from Boeing Research and Technology, addresses a fundamental challenge. When lightning strikes a plane, it first attaches to a sharp edge, then "sweeps" across the surface as the aircraft moves.
Current zoning standards—dividing planes into Zone 1 (high protection), Zone 2, and Zone 3 areas—were developed over decades of observing strikes on conventional tube-and-wing aircraft. But these historical patterns may not apply to revolutionary designs.
“Protecting aircraft from lightning is heavy,” Jenkins explains. “Embedding copper mesh or foil throughout an aircraft is an added weight penalty. And if we had the greatest level of protection for every part of the plane’s surface, the plane would weigh far too much.
So zoning is about trying to optimize the weight of the system while also having it be as safe as possible.” The team's physics-based approach offers a way to precisely determine which areas truly need reinforcement, potentially saving significant weight while maintaining safety.
The MIT method builds on previous work that predicted where lightning would first attach to a plane. For their new model, reported in IEEE Access, the researchers simulated airflow around an aircraft and incorporated tens of thousands of potential lightning arc angles from each attachment point.
By statistically analyzing how these simulated strikes would sweep across the surface, they generated zoning maps that identified regions requiring different protection levels based on physics rather than historical observation.
The tool has already proven its validity. When tested on conventional tube-and-wing aircraft, the physics-based zoning maps aligned closely with industry standards developed over decades.
“We now have a physics-based tool that provides some metrics like the probability of lightning attachment and dwell time, which is how long an arc will linger at a specific point,” Guerra-Garcia explains. “We convert those physics metrics into zoning maps to show, if I’m in this red region, the lightning arc will stay for a long time, so that region needs to be heavily protected.”
The implications extend beyond commercial aviation. Boeing researchers involved in the study see immediate practical applications. “With physics-based methods like the ones developed with professor Guerra-Garcia’s group we have the opportunity to shape industry standards and as an industry rely on the underlying physics to develop guidelines for aircraft certification through simulation,” says co-author Louisa Michael of Boeing Technology Innovation. Co-author Benjamin Westin adds that these methods “give our design engineers a platform to do their best work to optimize aircraft design.”
Looking forward, the team is already applying their approach to next-generation aircraft configurations. “Lightning is incredible and terrifying at the same time, and I have full confidence in flying on planes at the moment,” Jenkins says.
“I want to have that same confidence in 20 years’ time. So, we need a new way to zone aircraft.” The research may also benefit other technologies; Guerra-Garcia is exploring adaptations for wind turbines, where lightning causes approximately 60 percent of blade losses.
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