1. Introduction
As it is well known from many field experiences, the
radio communication towers are one of the preferential
points for direct lightning strikes. These towers are always located in the vicinity of either the central telecommunication office building or container. In both
cases the direct lightning stroke to the tower is considered as possible and very serious source of damages of
the electronic equipment inside the building or container.
Another point is that continuous reduction of dimensions and signal levels in modern electronic equipment
makes the equipment more and more susceptible to
damage.
Lightning current flowing through the tower structure,
the existing grounding system and the conducted structure of the building or container creates a strong electromagnetic pulse as well as large voltage differences
between conductors. As a result of both the galvanic and
the electromagnetic coupling, the overvoltages and
overcurrents in external and internal cabling of the
equipment inside the building are generated.
This paper presents a study of the electromagnetic fields
inside the central telecommunication office building as
well as currents flows and overvoltages in the internal
and external cabling in case of direct lightning strike to
the telecommunication tower.
In these considerations it has been taken into account a
40 m high telecommunication tower located in the
vicinity (about 4 m) of the central office building as it is
shown on figures 1 and 2.
Current injection
point
Transmission
equipment
Switching
equipment
d.c.
power
plant
Distribution
frame
I (t ) =
(e
e t ..(1)
where:
t
time
= 14103 s-1
reciprocal of time constant
reciprocal of time constant
= 6106 s-1
I = 100 kA
peak current
0.98
correcting factor
The current surge was injected into the top of the tower
in all cases.
4. Numerical modeling
The computer simulations have been performed by the
MultiFields [2], [3] software package, which is a part of
CDEGS package.
1
V (t ) =
2
E (t ) =
H (t ) =
where:
1
2
1
2
V ( )e
jt
....(2)
E ( )e
jt
(3)
H ( )e
jt
...(4)
V ( ) = Vo ( )I ( ) ..(5)
E ( ) = E o ( )I ( ) ..(6)
H ( ) = H o ( )I ( ) .....(7)
I ( ) =
I (t )e
jt
t .....(8)
5. Simulation results
5.1. Electromagnetic fields inside the building
Fig. 3 presents the total electric and magnetic fields in
the middle of the building on the 2-nd floor (about 9.4m
above ground) for the two analyzed configurations:
from fig. 1 and fig. 2 (case 1 and case 2 respectively).
a) case 1
b) case 2
Table 1. Calculated results of the peak values of electromagnetic fields in various points inside the building.
Point inside the building
Ground floor (2m above
ground), in the middle of
the building
Case 1
Case 2
210 kV/m
960 A/m
72.8 kV/m
616 A/m
92 kV/m
828 A/m
70 kV/m
736 A/m
123 kV/m
980 A/m
72.8 kV/m
800 A/m
172 kV/m
1680 A/m
116 kV/m
1720 A/m
b) case 2
Fig. 4. Currents in the antenna cables shield inside the building for the two analyzed configurations: a) from fig. 1;
b) from fig. 2.
case 2). Fig. 5 represents circuit with the return conductor connected to ground at both ends and fig. 6 circuit
with the return conductor connected to ground at one
end only (at transmission equipment).
a) case 1
b) case 2
b) case 2
Case 1
[A]
-780
275
Case 2
[A]
-60
560
Case 1
Case 2
610 A
376 A
472 A
375 A
45 A
11.5 A
39 A
10.6 A
504 A
304 A
310 A
224 A
26.5 A
4.8 A
6. Conclusions
30.2 A
2.2 A
b) case 2
100
80
80
60
60
40
40
20
kV 20
kV
0
-20
-20
-40
-40
-60
0.5
1.5
2
s
2.5
3.5
-60
0.5
1.5
2
s
2.5
3.5
10
20
7. References
6
4
10
kV 0
-2
-5
-4
-10
-6
-15
-8
-20
-10
0.5
b) case 2
25
15
kV
configurations (case 1 and case 2) are presented on figures 7 and 8. Fig. 7 represents circuit configuration with
the return conductor connected to ground at both ends
and fig. 8 configuration in which the return conductor is
grounded at one end only (at transmission equipment).
In this case, the shielding effectiveness of the earthing
and lightning protection system from fig. 3 (case 2) in
comparison with the configuration from fig. 2 (case 1) is
about 2.5 8 dB.
The reduction of overvoltages in circuit with the return
conductor grounded at one end in comparison with circuit with the return conductor grounded at both ends is
from 12 to 17 dB.
1.5
2
s
2.5
3.5
0.5
1.5
2
s
2.5
3.5
The computations of open circuit voltages in signal cabling at the equipment ports show a similar dependence.
The computed open circuit voltages in signal conductors
at the switching equipment ports for the two system
1. CCITT Recommendation K 27, Bonding configuration and earthing inside a telecommunication building, ITU 1992.
2. FFTSES Users Manual: Fast Fourier Transform
Safe Engineering Services & Technologies Ltd.,
Montreal Canada
3. HIFREQ Users Manual: Frequency Domain
Analysis of Buried Conductor Networks Safe Engineering Services & Technologies Ltd., Montreal
Canada
4. How to Engineering guide: Lightning transient
study of a communication tower Safe Engineering
Services & Technologies Ltd., Montreal Canada