Long Arc Simulated Lightning Attachment Testing Using a 150 kW Tesla Coil

The purpose of the program was to evaluate the Tesla Coil as a laboratory tool for lightning effects research on aircraft. The ability of a Tesla Coil to generate high voltage pulses at high rep rates results in the capability to create artificial lightning-like streaming and long electrical discharge arcs and makes it a desirable alternative to the high voltage impulse generators currently in use. Another characteristic of a Tesla Coil is that many long arcs can be generated over a very short time period. These Tesla Coil characteristics are highly desirable in lightning effects research using full scale (e.g. an actual aircraft) test specimens. The primary objective of the program was to evaluate the Tesla Coil as a long arc source for lightning attachment studies. Secondary objectives of the program were to investigate methods for measuring the output characteristics of the Tesla Coil and the attachment characteristics of an Advanced Design Composite Aircraft (ADCA) model.