The Use of Network Analysis Programs for the Analysis of Currents Flowing Through Anisotropic Conducting Structures

The increasing use of graphite composite structures for aircraft and other vehicles has renewed interest in the effects of direct and indirect lightning strikes on these materials and the contained electronics equipment and fuels.

A computational method for evaluation of the effects of conducting graphite using a network analysis code is described. Procedures are described for gridding quasi-two dimensional structures embedded in a three-dimensional space, and for assigning the corresponding lumped circuit element values.

Results are presented that use Excel as a preprocessing program, and the Boeing developed PRESTO code for the network analysis. The technique is also applicable to other network analysis programs such as SPICE and MICROCAP. Comparisons are made with the finite difference, method of moment =, and boundary element method computer codes with respect to predicted responses and execution time versus problem size.