Transient Response of the Grounding Grid of a Power Line Tower Subject to a Lightning Discharge

Abstract

This paper discusses basic concepts of the lightning phenomena and lightning protection systems (LPS) commonly employed in power lines. It is proposed a FDTD implementation to compute the transient parameters of arbitrary geometries exposed to lightning strikes. The implementation is first validated by comparison to results reported in the literature. Afterwards, a lightning discharge on a complex system composed of power line conductors, shield wires, tower structure, grounding conductors (counterpoises), concrete foundations and steel-frames is modeled, for which the transient response is investigated.