MIT Libraries logoDSpace@MIT

MIT
View Item 
  • DSpace@MIT Home
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • View Item
  • DSpace@MIT Home
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Fire Safety of Grounded Corrugating Stainless Steel Tubing in a Structure Energized by Lightning

Author(s)
Galler, Donald; Eagar, Thomas W.; Haslam, Bryan Todd
Thumbnail
Download10694_2015_557_ReferencePDF.pdf (67.23Mb)
OPEN_ACCESS_POLICY

Open Access Policy

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike

Terms of use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
Corrugated stainless steel tubing (CSST) has been used for more than 20 years as a replacement for conventional black iron gas piping. CSST has a thinner tubing wall and is susceptible to damage from lightning activity when discharges enter a structure, potentially resulting in perforation of the CSST wall and fire ignition. Grounding has been promoted by CSST manufacturers as a solution to this problem. We use modeling and simulation of voltage potentials and arc currents to evaluate the effects of grounding on the voltage potential across CSST, which can result in arc initiation, and charge through the arc, which can result in melting and perforation of the CSST wall. Our results show multiple scenarios where a 10 kA 10 × 350 s current waveform with 1 Ω grounding of the CSST still results in voltages greater than the arc initiation threshold of 25 kV and charge through the arc greater than 1.2 C, the perforation threshold we measured. For the case where lightning enters the structure through an outdoor light fixture or chimney, the presence of a grounding wire increases the charge through the arc from 0.13 C to 2.22 C. These results indicate that good grounding of CSST will not necessarily prevent arc initiation nor perforation of the CSST wall by lightning. Good grounding may in fact exacerbate the problem of lightning damage to CSST depending on where lightning enters the building and the electrical parameters of the path to ground.
Date issued
2016-02
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/103515
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Journal
Fire Technology
Publisher
Springer US
Citation
Haslam, Bryan, Donald Galler, and Thomas W. Eagar. “Fire Safety of Grounded Corrugating Stainless Steel Tubing in a Structure Energized by Lightning.” Fire Technology 52.2 (2016): 581–606.
Version: Author's final manuscript
ISSN
0015-2684
1572-8099

Collections
  • MIT Open Access Articles

Browse

All of DSpaceCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

My Account

Login

Statistics

OA StatisticsStatistics by CountryStatistics by Department
MIT Libraries
PrivacyPermissionsAccessibilityContact us
MIT
Content created by the MIT Libraries, CC BY-NC unless otherwise noted. Notify us about copyright concerns.