Scale model experiment for the study of lightning-induced spark discharge on large floating roof oil tanks

Abstract

The statistical data show lightning strike is the major cause of the floating oil tanks ignition and the actual tank stroke-ignition process is still not completely known. The effects of direct lightning stroke on floating oil tank have been studied a lot in previous works and there is little research on the influence of lightning stroke in the vicinity of tank. In order to study the indirect effect of lightning on the floating roof oil tanks, refer to the lightning-induced overvoltage scale model experiment used for power distribution line, this paper designs two type of scale model experiment in laboratory concentrate on the effect of thundercloud and return stroke channel respectively. The former experiment was conducted. Preliminary application results show that if the floating roof and tank shell was connected by the shunts or bonding cable, the induced charge generated by the thundercloud model was not measured. No spark was observed during the entire experiment.