In order to study lightning attachment characteristic of wind turbine blades, a method is proposed in this paper by using electrostatic simulation to analyze the development mechanism of the line lightning leader to establish the lightning initial attachment zones. A full-size turbine blade and a downward leader is modelled to investigate the lightning attachment characteristic by using 3D electromagnetic simulation based on finite element method (FEM). The configuration of receptors as well as their size and number on the interception effect are analyzed. The results show that the tip of a blade is more likely to be the attachment point from lightning. The interception is more effective when the cross-sectional area of a single receptor of the blade is in accordance with the minimum value 50 mm(2) recommended in IEC 61400-24. The interception effect does not significantly improve when the number of receptors is increased. The interception efficiency of wind turbine blade receptors during the rotation of the blades is discussed. In addition, the lightning electromagnetic environment characteristic inside nacelles is analyzed. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.