Analysis of Lightning and Surge Protection for Float Ground System

Lightning and power surges are phenomena where the over spike occurs for a short period of time. There are few main sources of power surge which are switching, lightning strikes, coupling, electrostatic discharge and nuclear electromagnetic pulses. To minimize the damage due to surge activities, proper installation of grounding system is essential to suppress the surge into the ground. However, there are some systems where physical grounding is not possible such as vehicles, ships and aircraft. In the absence of a proper lightning protection system, direct lightning strikes can cause lethal accidents in vehicles, particularly in aircraft and ships. In the current research, the impact of surge and its protection method for float ground systems were investigated. Various test waveforms as specified in different standards are simulated and examined. These surges can be modeled according to the IEC standard 1.2/50μs opened-circuit voltage and 8/20μs shorted-circuit current waveform.