Electrostatic charging of an aircraft due to airborne dust particles impacts
An approach for computing the electrostatic charging of an aircraft flying in a soil dust cloud is discussed. This approach combines a semi-empirical equation obtained by flight test data, atmospheric dust particle concentrations obtained either by numerical weather forecasting models or in situ measurements, a vortex lattice-based aerodynamic simulation model, and the aerodynamic and inertial characteristics of soil dust particles. Application of the proposed approach showed that the aircraft acquires an equilibrium electrostatic charge in a matter of seconds. This means that the electrostatic charging of the aircraft due to soil dust is as important as any other source of electrostatic charging.