Wind Turbine Lightning Protection

Altair Forum User

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

MartinV_20771

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.