Field study on the interception efficiency of lightning protection systems and comparison with models

We present and analyse the collective statistical results of a long-term field study quantifying the number of lightning strikes to buildings equipped with lightning protection systems. The observations were made over the period 1990–2003 in a region with one of the highest lightning activities in the world. The data sample comprised 86 structures with a mean height and exposure time of 57 metres and 6.9 yr, respectively. These structures were subjected to 384 flashes over the total observation time of 592 yr. The positioning of the protective air terminals on these structures was carried out with an improved electrogeometric model of lightning attachment. The collective observational data have been compared with the expected number of incident flashes using a variety of analytical relations and statistical tests. The expected strike frequency was determined with three different, contemporary models of lightning attachment to structures. The protection level or interception efficiency estimated from the models is compared with the actual value derived from the long-term field observations involving measurements of captured strikes and evidence of lightning by-pass events. The results show that the observational data used in this study are well-described by a Poisson distribution. There is a highly significant positive correlation between the observational data and the number of strikes expected from the application of the theoretical models. Finally, the observed and expected values for the mean interception efficiency of the lightning protection systems in the study are shown to be in good agreement.

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