Carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite materials are increasingly used in the wind turbine
(WT), aerospace, and automotive applications to reduce the structural weight of components. The
introduction of CFRP components creates challenges when protecting structures from lightning strikes
as they are semi-conductive in nature. CFRP materials facilitate conduction of heat and current in the
fibre direction, but in the direction transverse to the fibres they have relatively low thermal and
electrical conductivity resulting in significant Joule heating following a lightning strike. In a laminated
polymer composite structure, the through-thickness conductivity is also low. Hence there is a build-up
of voltage in the material, which eventually causes dielectric breakdown, allowing heat and current
conduction to occur in the transverse and through thickness directions. Previous work [1,2] has mostly
focused on aircraft structures subjected to lightning strikes, where the laminates are usually
multidirectional and quasi-isotropic, which allows more in-plane conduction. In contrast, WT blade
laminates are UD and more anisotropic, but the effects of lightning damage on their structural
response has received limited research attention
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