Relative performance of down conductor for lightning protection system

Abstract

The continuous development of lightning protection system is very essential to mankind due to the severity of damages caused by lightning strike. The numbers of skyscraper in the world are keeping on increase day by day due to globalization. The higher the building goes the more vulnerable of the building being stroked by lightning. Lightning protection system has been improved dramatically with time from the earliest method of Franklin rod to present widely used three methods of Protection Angle Method (PAM), Rolling Sphere Method (RSM) and Mesh Method. Air Terminal and down conductor played an important roles in a lightning protection system. Air terminal will initiate an upward leader to meet with the lightning downward leader to form a path for the lightning to discharge it current. The current will than follow the path provided by the down conductor to safely discharge to ground. Arguments always occur that whether copper or steel will be the better down conductor. However, by using the structural steel as down conductor has become common practice, thermal breakdown might occur and damage the structural steel. In this work, the thermal effect caused by lightning on down conductor will be thoroughly studied through SolidWorks simulation and compared with the IEC standard as the benchmark. The simulation results will be observed and to determine the better down conductor between copper and steel. This work will also discuss the possibility of aluminium to replace copper as down conductor and conclude with some recommendations.