Benefits of the Ground PEEC Modeling Approach—Example of a Residential Building Struck by Lightning

This article aims to prove the effectiveness of the partial element equivalent circuit (PEEC) method adapted to the modeling of meshless earth whose formulations have been explained in our first theoretical article. This publication is the second part of the paper by Clavel et al. (2018) [E. Clavel, J. Roudet, J.-M. Guichon, Z. Gouichiche, P. Joyeux, and A. Derbey, “A nonmeshing approach for modeling grounding,” IEEE Trans. EMC, vol. 60, no. 3, pp. 795-802, Jun. 2018]. Its robustness is emphasized on the simulation of a complex system. The chosen example is to calculate the response of a residential building struck by a lightning wave including models for all components of the distribution network. This method would allow a precise and rapid sizing of the earth protections of buildings. Today this is achieved using empirical approach or meshing methods which can be heavy and costly in terms of time solving and memory storage. An integral method based on an analytical resolution of the Poisson equation in the case of current injection has made it possible to obtain excellent results in terms of precision with a great simulation speed compared to conventional methods such as finite elements. A sensitivity analysis can be undertaken through the variation of physical parameters of the earth systems in order to design them better. This method is obviously suitable for taking into account other electromagnetic disturbances such as power electronics.

I. Introduction

Today, new buildings integrate more and more electrical or electronic devices, both to accommodate data handling systems and improve their energy efficiency. These new uses make them easily disturbed in the case of electromagnetic disturbances whose origins can be various. The sizing of grounding devices whose major aim is to provide good-quality ground references requires to develop wider band models. They have to take into account not only the disturbances such as lightning, whose equivalent frequency can reach 400 kHz, but also the conducted disturbances emitted by the many power electronics converters which are necessary to control the new actuators that manage the many energy flows. Power electronics equipment can generate common mode and differential mode perturbations up to 1 GHz. Today, sensitive buildings such as hospitals are victims of such a phenomenon.