Simulation of a Lightning Protective Area through the Protective Angle Method and the Rolling Sphere Method

Abstract

The protective angle method (PAM) and the rolling sphere method (RSM) are the popular lightning protection concepts for the impact avoidance of a lightning flash by using the installation of a vertical conducting rod (or Air termination) which can appropriately be utilized to analyze the external lightning protection. Moreover, these methods (PAM & RSM) are approved through the international standard IEC62305. Especially, the lightning protective area (LPA) is demonstrated if and only if the vertical conducting rod is installed which directly concerns the PAM and RSM respectively. However, the LPA of PAM and RSM are different configurations. As mentioned above, this article presents the simulation and comparison result of the lightning protective area (LPA) between the protective angle method (PAM) and the rolling sphere method (RSM). Also, the mathematical correlations of the LPA based on PAM & RSM are clearly shown for evaluation in this article.