Lightning transient analysis of telecommunication system with a tubular tower

Abstract

Unexpected lightning strikes on telecommunication towers may damage sophisticated communication equipment. Thus, it is necessary to predict transient currents in the telecommunication system (TS). Modeling the TS with the tubular tower is an essential but complex work. This paper presents a modeling procedure for the TS with the tubular tower. An efficient meshing scheme is proposed to model a system composed by conductors with both large and small radii. Both skin and proximity effect as well as propagation effect are considered using a partial element equivalent circuit method. The time-domain solution is finally obtained using the extended equivalent circuit. The procedure is verified through numerical comparison. The transient currents in the TS with a 40-m tubular tower are finally analyzed. The simulation shows that more currents will flow in outer-located conductors than other conductors. Particularly, more currents dissipate through the earth bus far from the lightning strike. It provides principles to design effective lightning protection and select appropriate protective devices for TS.