Incorporating elliptical Gaussian current and interlayer resin enrichment for lightning damage prediction in composite laminates

Accurate prediction of lightning strike damage in composite laminates remains challenging due to oversimplified representations of current distribution and through-thickness conductivity. This study introduces a novel model that uniquely integrates an elliptical Gaussian current distribution to capture both arc expansion and non-uniform current density, and explicit representation of Interlayer resin enrichment with dielectric breakdown properties. Quantitatively, compared to the conventional uniform current model, the proposed elliptical Gaussian distribution alone reduces damage depth prediction error by 66.7% (reducing under-prediction from 3 plies to 1 ply). Crucially, further incorporating explicit interlayer modeling reduces the depth error by nearly 100%, achieving exact prediction of 5-ply damage as validated by experiment, while maintaining total Joule energy variation within 1% of the Gaussian-only model. Furthermore, unlike previous models that require subsequent mechanical analysis to predict delamination, this approach uniquely captures both in-plane ablation and interlayer delamination morphology directly from coupled thermal-electrical analysis. These findings demonstrate that explicitly modeling elliptical Gaussian current distribution and interlayer resin enrichment is not merely incremental but essential for accurate lightning strike damage prediction in composite laminates.