30th International Conference on Lightning Protection - ICLP 2010

(Cagliari, Italy - September 13th -17th, 2010)

'THE MESH METHOD' IN LIGHTNING PROTECTION

STANDARDS - REVISITED

Liliana Arevalo, Vernon Cooray

Uppsala University, Lightning Research Group

Liliana.Arevalo@angstrom.uu.se

ABSTRACT
called the striking distance. In the rolling sphere method
the radius of the sphere is selected in such a way that its
At present the design of the Lightning protection radius is equal to the striking distance. Since the striking
systems (LPS) for structures as stipulated in distance is a function of the prospective return stroke
standards is based on the electro - geometrical current,the radius of the sphere R is defmed as a function
method, which was initially used to protect power of the probable return stroke current according to the
lines from lightning. A derivative of the electro­ relationship between the lightning striking distance and
geometrical method is the rolling sphere method. This the peak return stroke current as derived by Whitehead
method together, with the protection angle method for power transmission lines [5]. When using the rolling
and mesh method are used almost in all lightning sphere method to design the lightning protection
standards as the measure in installing the lightning standard, the sphere with the specified radius is rolled
protection systems of grounded structures. In the over the surface of the earth and over the structure to be
mesh method, the dimension of the cell size in protected and it allows the visualization of protected and
different levels of protection is determined using the unprotected objects or parts of the structure [1, 6]. Any
rolling sphere method. Since the rolling sphere part of the structure that is in contact with the sphere is
method does not take into account the physics of the considered to be vulnerable to a direct lightning strike;
lightning attachment process there is a need to the untouched volume defines a lightning protected zone.
evaluate the validity of the stipulated value in In the standard, the rolling sphere method is
standards of the minimum lightning current that can recommended as the main method to be used in the
penetrate through the mesh in different levels of design of lightning protection system and location of air
protection. In this paper, meshes of different sizes as terminals for structures with complex shapes [1].
stipulated in the lightning protection standards were
tested for their ability to intercept lightning flashes The second method proposed to be used for the
using a lightning attachment model that takes into positioning of air terminals is the protective angle
account the physics of connecting leaders on. The method. This procedure is recommended for simple
results are in reasonable agreement with the structures. The positioning of air terminals, masts and
specifications given in the lightning protection wires is done taking into account that all parts of the
standards. structure to be protected are inside the volume defined by
the surface generated by projecting a line from the air
1 INTRODUCTION
terminal to the ground plane,at an angle a to the vertical.
Lightning protection standards specify three procedures
that can be used to implement lightning protection system The third method recommended especially for the
of grounded structures. According to the lEe standards protection of flat surfaces is the mesh method. According
[1],they are the Rolling sphere method,the mesh method to this method, a conducting mesh with a cell size
and the protection angle method. determined by the minimum return stroke current that is
allowed to strike the protected structure [1]. In order to
The rolling sphere method comes from a simplified avoid a direct strike the mesh has to be located at a
version of the electro - geometric method [3-5]. critical distance above the flat surface to be protected.
According to the electro-geometrical method a down This procedure is called "protective mesh method".
coming stepped leader will get attached to the grounded
structure that first comes within a critical distance from The aim of this paper is to review the effectiveness of
the tip of the stepped leader. This critical distance is the mesh size proposed in the standards by means of a
procedure that takes into account the physics of the

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lightning attachment process. This procedure is based on the stepped leader continuously change the potential
the theory proposed by Bondiou and Gallimberti [7] and distribution. The corona charge generated during the
Gallimberti [8] and applied by to the study of lightning extension of the leader is calculated as before but now
attachment to grounded structures by Becerra and Cooray including both the leader and its corona zone in the
[9,10]. distance-voltage diagram. By using the relation between
the leader velocity and the current proposed in [7, 8], the
2 THE MODEL
Ieader advancement d·Istance L'lIL ' evaIuated as
IS
The main steps of the model can be divided into four
follows:
parts. They are the following. (a) Formation of a streamer
l L'lQ
L'l L-
corona discharge at the tip of a grounded object (first, _

qL
second or third corona inception). (b) Transformation of
(2)
the stem of the streamer into thermalized leader channel
(unstable leader inception). (c) Extension of the positive
leader and its self sustained propagation (stable leader where qL is the charge per unit length necessary to
inception). (d) Final connection between the upward realize the transformation of the streamer corona stem
moving connecting leader and the down coming stepped located in the active region in front of the already formed
leader. leader channel into a new leader segment. In the
simulation this value is taken to be 65 f.!C/m [7].
In the model, the corona inception is evaluated using
the well-know streamer inception criterion [8] while the
The above analysis requires the potential gradient
transition from streamer to leader is assumed to take
along the leader channel and the background electric field
place if the total charge in the second or successive
generated by the down coming stepped leader. The
corona bursts is equal to or larger than about 1 f.!C [7, 8].
sections to follow describe how these parameters are
The condition for self-propagation of the leader, i.e.
obtained.
stable leader inception is evaluated using the concepts
developed by Goelian et al. [11] as follows: As the 2.1 Potential gradient along the leader channel
background electric field increases, several corona bursts
will be generated by the point under consideration The potential gradient in the leader channel is evaluated
provided that the streamer inception criterion is satisfied. using the "local thermodynamic equilibrium" equations
The charge associated with these corona bursts are of Gallimberti [8]. Once the radius of the leader channel
calculated as follows using a distance-voltage diagram is given as an input parameter, these equations can
with the origin at the tip of the point. The streamer zone predict the development of the electric field inside the
leader channel.
is assumed to maintain a constant potential gradient Estr

In the calculation Estr =500 kV/m. In the distance­

The leader was decomposed into segments with length dl,
temperature T, pressure P and molecular density n that is
voltage diagram this is represented by a straight line. On uniform along the channel. Therefore, the potential drop
the same diagram the background potential produced by f:.UL in the segment i will be: f:.ULi = ELi . dl; where dl, is
the thundercloud and the down-coming stepped leader at the length of the segment i and ELi is the potential
the current time is depicted. If the area between the two gradient of the segment of length i.
curves up to the point where they cross is A , the charge
Jr . a2 . (t + dt) = Jr . a2 (t) + y- 1 E . I . dt
in the corona zone is given by L L
y,PO (3)
As the mass is constant from the molecules density can
(1)
be written as:

K
Jr. a2(t)
where Q is a geometrical factor which is equal to
n(t+dt) = n(t) ---:---:-� -:­
Jr·a2(t+dt) (4)
3.5 x 10-11 CIY.m [9]. If the charge of the corona
And using the hypothesis that ELin is constant; the
corona burst L'lQ is larger than If.!C, unstable leader internal electric field in time will be equal to:
inception condition is fulfilled and an iterative
n(t+dt)
geometrical analysis of the leader propagation starts with EL(t+dt)= n(t) EL
(t)
an assumed initial leader length of IL as inputs. The
(5)
extension of the leader and the downward movement of

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Therefore,it is possible to calculate the time evolution of perfectly conducting shield of adequate thickness to
the internal electric field for each segment and the withstand the melting effects. In practice however, it is
potential drop along the leader channel using not possible to realize such an ideal protection procedure.
k However, what can be done in practice is to surround the
I'1UL= L EL··dl. structure with a conducting mesh. The size of the mesh
I I
i=1 (6) that should be used is specified in the standards. These
specifications depend on the "Lightning Protection
Levels" the defmition of which are based on the
where k is the number of total segments.
maximum amplitude of the return stroke current that the
structure can accept without causing any damage either to
2.2 Distribution of charge along the stepped leader the structure or to contents of the structure. The
channel recommended cell size of the mesh varies according to
the lightning protection level. The first three columns of
Table 1 specify the mesh size and the maximum return
Based on the charge transported to ground by first return stroke current that may terminate on the structure when
strokes,as measured by Berger et al. [12],Cooray et al. using this mesh size for different lightning protection
[13] developed an equation that describes the distribution levels. These mesh sizes are based on the analysis
of charge along the stepped leader channel as it conducted using the rolling sphere method. The
propagates towards ground. According to this study the separation between the mesh and the grounded structure
linear charge distribution along the leader channel is should be larger than a critical value and this critical
given by, value is also given in Table 1.

--
[ 1
�
p(z) =8·10-6 . 1- ·G(z )·1 +
H- z 0 P (7) Minimum Critical height
o
Class of Mesh Size Current of mesh above
a+b·�
2
.H(z )·1
0
[ C/m ] LPS [m] Standards the structure
l+c.�+d.� p [kA] [m]
with I 5x5 3 0.15

G( zo) = 1- ( ;; ) (8) II 10 x 10 5 0.42

H(zo) = O . 3 .e +O . 7'e
III 15 x 15 10 0.63
50 2500
(9)
�=Z -Zo (10) IV 20 x 20 15 0.84

where Z0 is the height of the leader tip above ground

in meters, H is the height of the cloud in meters Table I. Magnitudes and levels of protection proposed in the

(assumed equal to 4000m), Ip is the return stroke

standards lEe 62305 and comparison with the results obtained
using a physical approximation for the calculation of the
peak current, a 7.2.10-5, b
= 5.297.10-5, C
= 1.316 =
inception of leader on the mesh.
2
and d 1.492.10- • This charge distribution is used
=

here to evaluate the temporal variation of the electric

field at the structure as the stepped leader approaches The goal here is to use the procedure outlined earlier to
it. check whether a given mesh size would provide the level
of protection as specified by the standard. It is important
3 APPLICATION OF THE MODEL to recall that this procedure has already being tested
against available experimental data both from long
The procedures to provide adequate protection
laboratory discharges and lightning and a reasonable
measurements against lightning are defined in the
agreement is found between theory and observations [7,
lightning protection standard IEC 62305-2 [1]. The
9,11,14,15].
protection necessary to reduce the physical damage of
structures due to lightning is provided by the lightning
In the analysis, the total size of the analyzed plane is 100
protection system (LPS). In the case of power lines the x 100 m. The mesh was earthed and elevated from
shielding wires provides the necessary protection [1]. The
ground plane. The radius of the conductors of the mesh
ideal protection procedure according to the principles of
was assumed to be 2.5 mm as stipulated in the standard.
electricity is to enclose the protected object within a

1153-3
In the analysis the axis of the stepped leader is located IS x IS 9 Probable attachment to
directly at the center of a cell which is located at the mesh
center of the mesh. As the stepped leader approaches the IS X IS 10 Probable attachment to
grounded structure the electric field at the mesh continues mesh
to increase and when it reaches a critical value a IS x IS 11
Attachment to mesh
connecting leader is initiated from the mesh. In order to
check whether the down coming stepped leader will get IV 20 x 20 13 Probable attachment to
attached to the connecting leader (i.e. the flash is mesh
intercepted by the mesh) or to the ground plane (i.e the 20 x 20 14 Probable attachment to
stepped leader penetrated the mesh) the following criteria mesh
are utilized. (a) If the corona streamers of the connecting 20 x 20 IS
Attachment to mesh
leader approach the stepped leader to such a distance
where the background electric field generated by the TABLE II: Results of the sImulatIOns. If the electriC field at the
stepped leader is SOO kV1m, it is assumed to be a ground plane is less that 106 Vim but is greater than 7.5x105
sufficient criterion for the interception of the stepped V1m when the criterion for the attachment of the leader to the
leader by the connecting leader. (b) If the electric field at mesh is satisfied the outcome is denoted as a probable
the ground plane just below the stepped leader reaches a attachment to the mesh. In the simulations, the height of the
value 106 V1m or more after taking into account the mesh above the ground plane is 0. 2 m, 0.5 m, 0. 7 m and 0. 9 m
for LPS class I, II, III and IV respectively.
screening by the mesh, it is assumed to be a sufficient
condition for the stepped leader to terminate on the
Table II summarizes the results obtained in the
ground plane. The condition (a) assures that once the
simulations. The results are given for SxS, 10x lO, ISx lS
positive streamers of the connecting leader reach the zone
and 20x20 mesh dimensions. The heights of these meshes
where the electric field generated by the stepped leader is
above the ground plane are 0.3, O.S, 0.7 and 0.9 m
larger than SOO kVlm, they will propagate continuously
respectively. If the electric field at ground is less than
until they meet the corona sheath of the leader channel
106 Vim when the condition (a) given above is satisfied,
thus reaching the fmal jump condition. The fulfillment of
it indicates a possible attachment to the grid. However,
condition (b) assures that the negative streamers of the
lightning attachment is a statistical process and there is
stepped leader will reach the ground plane thus
no guarantee that just because the criterion (a) is reached
generating final jump condition between the stepped
first the stepped leader will not get attached to ground
leader and ground plane. Depending on which condition
specially in the case when the ground field is also close to
is materialized first the stepped leader will get attached
106 Vim. For this reason, if the electric field at ground is
either to the grid or to the ground plane.
less than 106 but greater than 7.Sx105 Vim when the
condition (a) is satisfied it is marked as probable
Return
attachment to grid. If the electric field at ground level is
Mesh Size stroke
Class Result less than 7.Sx l05 Vim when the condition (a) is satisfied
[m] Current
the case is regarded as a defmite attachment to ground.
rkAl
of LPS
I SxS 2
Attachment to ground From the data given in Table II one can conclude that the
minimum current values stipulated in the standards
SxS 3
Attachment to Mesh pertinent to a given mesh size are in reasonable
agreement with the results obtained in this study using a
II 10x lO 3
Attachment to ground physical reasonable attachment model. The reason for
this agreement is probably the fact that in the case of a
10x lO 4
Attachment to ground mesh located close to a ground plane the leader has to
come into the vicinity of the mesh before a connecting
Conditions for attachment
IOx l0 S ground and to the grid are
leader is issued by the mesh. This is the case since the
fulfilled almost at the same field enhancement caused by the mesh placed rather close
time to the ground plane does not provide significant field
10x lO 6 Probable attachment to enhancement to promote connecting leaders. As the
Mesh length of the connecting leader diminishes the attachment
10x lO 7 procedure becomes closer and closer to that simulated by
Attachment to mesh
the rolling sphere method thus bringing the results from
III ISx lS 8 both procedures closer to each other.
Attachment to ground

l1S3-4
 4 CONCLUSIONS variation" Journal of Electrostatics. Vol 67, Issues 2-3,
May 2009, ISSN 0304 - 3886
The calculations presented in this paper shows that the
mesh method and the stipulated creep currents through
the mesh are in reasonable agreement with simulations
conducted using a procedure that takes into account the
physics of the attachment process.

5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Authors would like to thank ABB AB Power

Systems/HVDC Ludvika - Sweden for the financial
support given to the PhD candidate during this research

6 REFERENCES

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