Lightning protection systems for charged oil metal vessels

This paper presents a method for the simulation of lightning protection systems for charged oil containers. The presented procedure allows to compute the reduction of the electric voltage and field at the inner of the container due to the adopted protections. Three kinds of lightning protection systems are considered in which the distances between the down conductors and between the interconnecting rings and the container are varied. A circuit model is proposed to simulate the lightning protection systems and the vessel. The circuit simulator SPICE is used for the solution of the entire equivalent electrical network and in particular to obtain the electric voltage values at the boundary of the vessel. These values are used as boundary conditions for the equation system valid at the inner of the charged oil metal vessel. The reductions of the electric voltage and field values in the vessel are analyzed in order to detect possible hazards and to identify the better lightning protection system.