The Experimental Verification of Circuit Modeling Techniques Used to Determine Lightning Current Distribution as Applied to the NASA Space Shuttle Vehicle

Analytical and experimental approaches were used to obtain the distribution of lightning currents on the NASA Space Shuttle vehicle cluster for a direct strike. The analytical approach involves modeling the cluster as a nonuniform TEM transmission line and solving a cir­ cuit model of this line with a standard transient cir­ cuit analysis program. The experimental approach used a 1/22 scale model of the cluster. Results for attach point currents and surface current densities were o b ­ tained from both approaches and compared with excellent agreement.