Arc reattachment driven by a turbulent boundary layer: implications for the sweeping of lightning arcs along aircraft

A lightning channel attached to an aircraft in flight will be swept along the aircraft's surface in response to the relative velocity between the arc's root (attached to a moving electrode) and the bulk of the arc, which is stationary with respect to the air. During this process, the reattachment of the arc to new locations often occurs. The detailed description of this swept stroke is still at an early stage of research, and it entails the interaction between an electrical arc and the flow boundary layer. In this paper we examine the implications of the structure of the boundary layer for the arc sweeping and reattachment process by considering different velocity profiles, both for laminar and turbulent flow, as well as a high fidelity description, using large eddy simulation, of transitional flow over an airfoil. It is found that the local velocity fluctuations in a turbulent flow may be important contributors to the reattachment of the arc, through a combination of an increased potential drop along the arc and local approaches of the arc to the surface. Specific flow features, such as the presence of a laminar recirculation bubble, can also contribute to the possibility of reattachment.