Investigation of the Effects of Receptors on the Lightning Strike Protection of Wind Turbine Blades

Abstract

Receptor plays an essential role in determining the efficiency of lightning strike protection (LSP) on wind turbine blades. To investigate the effects of receptors with different shapes and sizes on the LSP, we apply five different receptor configurations to the blade of a high-fidelity wind turbine model. The static electric field strength on the blade surfaces due to a lightning stepped leader is predicted through the development of a numerical model with finite element analysis. The interception efficiency is evaluated by comparing the predicted maximum electric field strength in the vicinity of the receptors. In addition, the locations of the predicted lightning strike attachment points match well with those obtained by experimental measurements, which validate the current numerical approach.