Wind Turbine Lightning Protection

Altair Forum User
Altair Forum User
Altair Employee
edited November 2020 in Community Q&A

Hello everyone

I am simulating the effect of lightening strike on offshore wind turbine and want to see the over voltage and near fields around the cable. my proposed model is attached below. my question is that how can i put lightening in FEKO and is it possible to put Surge Impedance for my turbine tower? Thanks for your guidance.

Unable to find an attachment - read this blog

Tagged:

Answers

  • MartinV_20771
    MartinV_20771 New Altair Community Member
    edited February 2018

    A few recommendations:

    First, in a frequency-domain method, you need to work with closed current loops. The lightning goes from the sky through the wind mill into the ground or sea. To close the current loop, you need conductors at a distance that bring electrons back from the ground or sea to the sky, via a detour to the source where they started.

    Second, in my experience, a voltage source with a resistor works better than an impressed current source (for me, the impressed current source doesn't always connect). For instance, I may take a source of 1 kV with an impedance of 1 kOhm to send 1 A into my structure.

    Third, in the water or the ground, you need more conducting wires or other structure to connect the windmill base firmly to the Earth, so the resistance at the base of the windmill isn't too high.

    I hope this helps a bit.

  • Altair Forum User
    Altair Forum User
    Altair Employee
    edited June 2018

    Generally, a higher protection level requires a smaller rolling-sphere radius for the lightning protection system to capture smaller lightning strikes. Therefore, the higher the protection level, the greater the material requirements. Strikes of less than 3 kA are rare and typically would not be expected to damage a wind turbine. No lightning protection system is 100% effective and a system in compliance with the standard does not guarantee immunity from damage. Lightning protection is an issue of statistical probabilities and risk management. A system in compliance with the standard should statistically reduce the risk to below an acceptable threshold. The IEC 62305-2 risk-management process provides a framework for this analysis. You can contact Streamer Electric experts, they will help you to install it https://www.streamer-electric.com/