As one of the key equipment in the power system, the transformer is prone to arc faults inside its oil tank, resulting in overpressure, rupture of the oil tank, leading to oil leakage, and even explosions, which poses a serious threat to the stable operation of the power system. In this paper, a platform for impulse voltage discharge in oil is built to detect the pressure wave in oil to deal with the interference caused by continuous gas production and re-ignition in the traditional power frequency arc experiments. Combined with the dynamic arc resistance model, the nonlinear characteristics of arc resistance and power at different impulse voltage and its effect on the pressure are systematically analyzed. The study shows that the pressure wave encounters the wall of the oil tank during propagation and undergoes folding and reflection, and due to the superposition of pressure wave, the intensity of the second pressure wave is higher than the that of the incident pressure wave; and the intensity of the pressure wave increases with the increase of the pulse energy. This study quantitatively elucidates the coupling mechanism between arc energy and pressure waves, providing theoretical support for further exploration of the pressure wave generation mechanism induced by oil-immersed arcs, thereby underpinning the insulation and explosion-proof design of transformers.