Lightning Interception - A Review of Simulation Procedures Utilized to study the Attachment of Lightning Flashes to Grounded Structures

A precise evaluation of the point of lightning strike to a grounded structure should take into account the development of  streamers from different parts of the structure, subsequent streamer to leader transition, inception of a stable upward connecting leader and the final encounter between the upward moving connecting leader and the down coming stepped leader. On the other hand, the most common procedure of lightning protection of power transmission and distribution lines is based on the electro-geometrical method which neglects most of the physics associated with the attachment process of lightning flashes to structures. This method assumes that the stepped leader will get attached to the first point on the structure that comes within a critical distance from the tip of the stepped…