A Simulation Study on Lightning Current Distribution in Telecommunication Tower

Direct lightning strikes to a structure are always a problem in the study of electrical protection systems. So, a study is carried out regarding the impact of a direct lightning strike on a structure. A complex structure will be an important issue in designing an effective lightning protection system and attaching a protection mechanism to the components to protect. In the present study, the effect of a direct lightning strike on a structure will be studied based on the distribution of surface currents and the intensity of the electric field using the electromagnetic computational method (Hybrid FEM / MoM) approach based on software simulation. The simulation is carried out by modeling two parameters, namely modeling lightning currents and modeling structures. The lightning current modeled has an amplitude of 40kA with a working frequency of 833.33 kHz, this is based on the IEC 62305 standard where the maximum current occurs when the lightning current wave reaches a face time of 1.2μs. In this study, Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) and Method of Moments (MoM) software can be used to model lightning strikes on a 75 m high telecommunications tower with lightning strike settings based on tropical lightning condition. The tower model used is without using a down conductor and using a down conductor. This research has a contribution in showing the distribution of lightning current that flows in the foot of tower and down conductor when tower is struck by lightning.