Usage of statistical modeling of lightning leader advancement process in the last stroke phase for determination of lightning protection system parameters

Abstract

In the paper, the experimental data on the electrical physical characteristics of long spark gaps and lightning are used to create a lightning leader development model in the last stroke phase. The model is verified by comparison of the calculated probabilities of lightning attachments to air terminals and protected objects with normalized level. In order to determine the influence of ground system resistance on protection ability for lightning air terminals, lightning attachments with different ground system resistances have been modeled. The proposed method has been implemented for the calculation of lightning strokes probability to objects of an extended facility with oil storage tanks.