Open AccessExperimental investigation of the external lightning protection of ships through impulse voltage tests on a scaled‐down ship model
Author(s) -
Nicolopoulou Eleni P.,
Gonos Ioannis F.,
Stathopulos Ioannis A.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
iet science, measurement and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.418
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1751-8830
pISSN - 1751-8822
DOI - 10.1049/iet-smt.2016.0113
Subject(s) - impulse (physics) , marine engineering , rod , lightning (connector) , installation , voltage , interception , engineering , electrical engineering , structural engineering , mechanical engineering , physics , medicine , ecology , power (physics) , alternative medicine , pathology , quantum mechanics , biology
The impacts of a lightning strike are amplified in an environment with special features such as a ship electric grid, especially within the extended integration of electronic systems. In most marine regulations, lightning protection specifications are inadequate in the cases of metallic vessels, regarding the necessity of installing lightning rods and the method for the definition of their protection zone and subsequently of their height. Therefore, impulse voltage experiments on a scaled‐down ship model were conducted in order to acquire interception probability distributions of its superstructures and to assess the accuracy of various protection zone models, established for isolated rods, on the given complex topology of a ship. The experimental results highlighted the overestimation of the protection zone even by the well‐established rolling sphere model for negative polarity impulses depending on the geometrical conditions and the satisfying performance of statistical models that incorporate proximity effects and lightning interception probability.