Reliability Assessment of Lightning Protection of Renaissance Architecture Based Heritage Church in India Using Electrogeometric Methods

With growing concerns due to climate change, lightning has become a perceptible natural disaster that has triggered large-scale damages to tall structures, including heritage monuments. Several researchers have implemented and utilized various methods of Lightning Protection Systems (LPS) to safeguard the structures from direct lightning strokes. However, several occurrences of damages caused due to lightning strokes on heritage monuments and structures of significance continue to be reported worldwide. The main objectives of this research are to analyze the adequacy and reliability of the existing LPS installed in a famous ‘renaissance architecture’ heritage church i.e., Sé Cathedral, Goa and carry out detailed lightning protection studies for gable roofs using variants of electro-geometric methods. Further, recommendations are summarized wherein locations of critical points of strikes to the structure from direct lightning strikes are identified to avoid consequent damages.