A three‐dimensional direct lightning strike model for lightning protection of the substation
Jun Guo, Xudong Zhang, Bangyong Wang, Xuezhao Hao, Shengquan Zheng, Yan‐Zhao Xie
Abstract
Abstract Lightning strikes to a substation happen frequently, which has a serious impact on the safety of the power system. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the effect of the direct lightning to the substation for the sake of protection. However, since the propagation and attachment of the lightning leader is a typical random process, it is hard to sufficiently represent the effect of the direct lightning by some deterministic models. In order to take into consideration the randomness of the lightning propagation process, in this paper, a three dimensional lightning fractal model that reproduces the tortuosity and branching of natural lightning is established. The proposed model is then applied to the effect analysis of the direct lightning to a typical 220 kV substation. Moreover, the protection effect of different distribution and height schemes of lightning rods is investigated using the proposed model. This work helps to understand the lightning strike risk that the substations face and also provides a promising way to improve and optimize the protection design.