A Comparative Analysis of External Lightning Strike Protection Area Determined by Using Protection Angle and Rolling Sphere Methods

Abstract

The lightning phenomenon is a natural disaster that endangers human life. The nature of grabbing objects closest to the cloud can cause fires, damage to electrical equipment, and even fatalities. The Padang Institute of Technology is a campus that has tall buildings, such as buildings B, C, D, E, and F, without an adequate lightning protection system. This is certainly a concern regarding security and safety for building users on the ITP campus. This research was conducted to reduce the risk of being hit by a lightning strike on the ITP campus. The protection system design process refers to the IEC 62305-3 standard comparing the protection angle and rolling sphere methods. Meanwhile, the procedure for calculating building requirements for a protection system or building protection level refers to the PUIPP and IEC 1024-1-1 standards. After analyzing the lightning rods in 5 ITP campus buildings by comparing the protection angle and rolling sphere methods, it can be concluded that there are still parts of the building that are not protected by the size of the installed air terminal. To overcome this, adding or adjusting the air terminal level is necessary so that all buildings are in the protection area. In addition, in conducting the analysis, the method considered the best to provide clear information on the part of the building that needs protection and the amount of the building that has been protected is the Rolling sphere method.