324 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 16, NO.

2, APRIL 2001

Numerical Electromagnetic Field Analysis of

Lightning Current in Tall Structures
Yoshihiro Baba, Member, IEEE and Masaru Ishii, Senior Member, IEEE

AbstractThe Numerical Electromagnetic Code (NEC-2) is

applied to the electromagnetic analysis of tall structures hit by
lightning. The advantage of the analysis using NEC-2 is that it can
accurately compute the current distribution along a conductor
system by the method of moments. The waveforms of the light-
ning currents measured on freestanding tall structures are well
reproduced, and the computed waveforms of the electric and the
magnetic fields at some distance from the structure hit by lightning
agree fairly well with the measured waveforms. In the analysis,
a lightning channel is represented by a vertical conductor that is
loaded by series inductance and resistance so as to simulate the
slow propagation velocity of a current wave on the lossy channel.
This representation is demonstrated to be quite effective.
Index TermsEMP, lightning current, numerical electromag-
netic field analysis, tall structures. Fig. 1. Waveforms of a current pulse propagating up a loaded vertical
conductor dependent on the height.

I. INTRODUCTION
EMTP is quite powerful in analyzing transients in a complex

I N ORDER to predict lightning surges in various electrical

systems, it is important to know the lightning current
parameters and the characteristics of a lightning channel.
circuit, and has been successful in modeling nonlinear phe-
nomena or time-varying elements such as surge corona or a
switch by developing equivalent circuits. It is, however, not
Lightning current waveforms with short rise times have been appropriate to investigate electromagentic characteristics of a
measured on freestanding tall structures such as the CN Tower vertical conductor, as the transient electromagnetic field around
in Toronto simultaneously with the associated electric and a vertical structure is different from that of the TEM mode,
magnetic fields. The waveforms of lightning currents measured which is the basis of the equivalent-circuit approach.
on such structures show multiple reflections of current waves
Electromagnetic modeling codes are appropriate to ana-
within the structures and, therefore, the measured electric and
lyze such transient currents and electromagnetic fields at a
magnetic fields also show complex time-varying characteristics
three-dimensional conductor system, because they can compute
[1][5].
fields at any points around the structure without postulating an
Tall structures such as chimneys of thermal generating sta-
equivalent circuit. Podgorski and Landt [6] applied Thin-Wire
tions, telecommunication towers at substations, or those close
Time-Domain (TWTD) code [7], which is based on the method
to distribution lines attract lightning. Developing an accurate
of moments [8], to the analysis of electromagnetic fields
model of the resulting electromagnetic fields from all of this
associated with a lightning stroke attached to a tall structure.
nearby lightning is important for both EMC and induced over-
Moini et al. [9] used this code to analyze a current along a
voltage coordination.
lightning channel and the resultant electric and magnetic fields.
In the analyzes of tower currents or electromagnetic fields
The accuracy of the results when TWTD is applied to this kind
around a tower struck by lightning, the tower has been mod-
of analyzes has not been well investigated. An advantage of
eled by single or cascaded lossless transmission lines, speci-
the analysis using TWTD is that it is capable of incorporating
fying surge impedance or reflection and refraction coefficients
nonlinear phenomena into the analysis.
at their ends [1], [2], [4], [5]. Such a simple tower model does
In the present paper, the propagation of a fast-front lightning
neither correctly reproduce the impedance characteristics of the
current in tall structures hit by lightning and the associated elec-
grounding, nor the characteristics of a vertical conductor and
tric and magnetic fields are studied with the help of the Numer-
a lightning channel, although the current distribution in such a
ical Electromagnetic Code (NEC-2) [10]. This code numerically
model can be calculated quite easily by a tool such as Electro-
solves the electric field integral equation in the frequency do-
Magnetic Transients Program (EMTP).
main, and is also based on the method of moments. It is more
widely used than TWTD and has been applied to analyze elec-
Manuscript received June 22, 1999; revised July 14, 2000. tromagnetic fields around antennas. The authors verified the ac-
Y. Baba is with Doshisha University, Kyoto 610-0321, Japan.
M. Ishii is with the University of Tokyo, Tokyo 106-8558, Japan. curacy of the computed results on lightning surges on overhead
Publisher Item Identifier S 0885-8977(01)01544-8. power transmission lines [11].
08858977/01$10.00 2001 IEEE
BABA AND ISHII: NUMERICAL ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD ANALYSIS OF LIGHTNING CURRENT IN TALL STRUCTURES
(a)
Fig. 2. Vertical electric field and azimuthal magnetic field waveforms at 2 km from the striking point of the model lightning stroke. (a) Vertical electric field.
(b) Azimuthal magnetic field.
II. METHOD OF ANALYSIS
The NEC-2 code is a widely used three-dimensional electro-
magnetic modeling code based on the method of moments [8],
and it is particularly effective in analyzing the electromagnetic
response of antennas or of other metallic structures composed of
thin wires. It is a computer code in the frequency domain, there-
fore, Fourier transform and inverse Fourier transform are used
to analyze the time-varying response. The NEC-2 code requires
the entire structure to be divided into cylindrical segments that
must be short enough compared to the wavelengths of interest.
Once the model is defined, the excitation is imposed as a voltage
source or a plane wave. It determines the current on every seg-
ment, excited by the source and all other currents, through nu-
merically solving the electric-field integral equation. Once these
currents are known, the electric field and the magnetic field at
any point in space is determined from the sum of the contribu-
tion from all the segments. This code allows lumped circuit ele-
ments to be incorporated into the model by simply defining the
impedance *of any given segments. The basic theory of NEC-2,
the modeling guidelines and the time-domain analysis using this
code are described in [12].
There have been several studies related to lightning em-
ploying NEC-2. Heidler et al. [13] used this code to analyze the
induced voltages on conductor loops illuminated by lightning
EMP. Cristina et al. [14] employed it to evaluate the electro-
magnetic field inside of a building struck by lightning. Chai
et al. [15] employed this code to study the electromagnetic
field inside of a wire-array lightning protection system for a
launch vehicle when it is struck by lightning. The authors also
successfully applied NEC-2 to the analysis of the transient
voltages across insulators of a power transmission tower hit by
lightning [11].
III. FUNDAMENTAL CASE
In the present chapter, a model of a lightning channel to be
used in the following chapters is studied. To simulate the lossy
channel and the slower propagation velocity of a return stroke
current pulse, a vertical conductor loaded uniformly by series
resistance and inductance is employed. Moini et al. [9] rep-
resented a lightning channel by a vertical conductor, and the
slower propagation velocity of current in the channel, 0.43 c,
325
(b)
(a) (b)
Fig. 3. Models for the analysis by NEC-2. (a) 200 m high stack in Japan.
(b) CN Tower in Toronto.
was realized by changing the permittivity of the surrounding
medium. By this method, the characteristic impedance of the
simulated channel becomes lower than the actual case.
Fig. 1 shows the calculated waveforms of a propagating
current wave along the loaded channel of 1500 m in length,
connected to a pulse generator placed on perfectly conducting
ground. The pulse generator is represented by a voltage source
with resistance of 400 in series. The values of series induc-
tance and resistance added to the modeled channel are 3 H/m
and 1 /m, respectively. This loading makes the propagation
velocity about 0.5 c, attenuation about 5% per 100 m, and
increases the characteristic impedance of the vertical conductor
to about 800 . The loading also produces the spike in the
initial part of the waveform.
Fig. 2(a) shows the computed waveform of vertical electric
field for the current pulse in Fig. 1 having the peak of 30 kA,
at a distance of 2 km from the struck point. Fig. 2(b) shows
that of azimuthal magnetic field. Downward electric field is
defined positive in this paper, following the atmospheric field
convention.
When the current in a vertical channel follows the trans-
mission line (TL) model, the waveforms of current and the
far field, composed of radiation components, are the same
[16]. The initial part of a field waveform is dominated by the
radiation components even in the distance of few hundreds of
326
(a)
Fig. 4. Measured [5] and computed waveforms at or around a 200 m high stack. (a) Lightning current at the top of the stack. (b) Vertical electric field at a distance
of 630 m from the stack. (c) Azimuthal magnetic field at a distance of 630 m from the stack.
meters, therefore, by using the relationship of the TL model, the
peak value of the current propagating up the vertical conductor
can be estimated from the peak field values.
The estimated peak current from the vertical electric field of
Fig. 2 is 33 kA, and 30 kA from the azimuthal magnetic field
for c. This result roughly assures the validity of the
numerical analysis with NEC-2. The small difference between
the two estimated values supposedly comes from that the fields
at the distance of 2 km from the lightning channel is not pure
radiation fields.
IV. MODELING OF TALL STRUCTURES STRUCK BY LIGHTNING
Fig. 3 illustrates model structures analyzed by NEC-2.
Fig. 3(a) simulates a stack at a thermal power plant in Japan,
and Fig. 3(b) simulates the CN Tower in Toronto, both struck
by lightning. The stack is simply modeled by a vertical cylinder
of 200 m in height and 0.3 m in radius on perfectly conducting
ground. The model for the CN Tower is 550 m in height, and
it comprises the upper thin part, a bulge in the middle, and
the lower part. The upper part is a thin cylinder whose length
is 175 m. The middle part simulates the skypod, and it has
a hexagonal cross section circumscribed by a circle having a
radius of 25 m. The lower part is composed of base-broadened
three poles whose lower ends are connected to perfectly
conducting ground.
In the case of a subsequent stroke hitting a tall structure, cur-
rent pulses are launched upward and downward from the con-
necting point of leaders close to the top of the structure. A pulse
generator (P. G.) having internal resistance of 400 placed at
the top of the structure simulates this situation.
As a lightning channel, the vertical conductor of 1500 m long
uniformly loaded by series inductance and resistance, which
is employed in the preceding chapter, is used. The apparent
impedance of the modeled lightning channel, which is the
sum of the internal resistance of the pulse generator and the
impedance of the loaded vertical conductor, would be about
1.2 k .
For the numerical analysis, the conductor is divided into
cylindrical segments of 25 m in length and 0.3 m in radius.
The computation is carried out in the frequency range from
19.53 kHz to 10 MHz with the increment step of 19.53 kHz.
This corresponds to the time range from 0 to 51.2 s with
0.1 s increments.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 16, NO. 2, APRIL 2001
(b) (c)
Fig. 5. Waveforms of voltage source for the computation that produced Fig. 4.
V. COMPARISON WITH MEASURED WAVEFORMS
A. 200 m High Stack in Japan
Fig. 4 shows the measured [5] and the computed waveforms
of the current and the fields associated with a lightning stroke
hit a 200 m high stack in Japan. The thin lines are the measured
waveforms. The solid lines are the computed waveforms in the
case that the loaded vertical conductor is used as a simulated
lightning channel. The gray lines are the computed waveforms
in the case that a nonloaded vertical conductor is employed,
where the velocity of the current wave is equal to that of light.
Fig. 5 shows the postulated source voltage waveforms in the
simulation to reproduce the measured waveforms. In the anal-
ysis, the grounding resistance is set to 30 .
The source voltage waveforms were first determined so that the
current waveform at the observation point might fit the measured
waveform. Then the velocity of the current wave on the simulated
lightning channel was adjusted by changing the parameters of
loading so that the computed field waveforms might fit the mea-
sured ones. The velocity of the current wave on the nonloaded ver-
tical conductor is fixed to the speed of light, and this is the reason
for the larger difference of the field waveforms for the nonloaded
conductor from the measured ones in Fig. 4(b) and (c).
The measured waveform of the current is well reproduced by
postulating a simple source waveform, especially in the case of
the loaded vertical conductor. The lightning-current waveform
is apparently influenced by the tall structure. The increase of
the current at about 1.3 s in Fig. 4(a) is reflection from the
ground. This increment of current is sensitive to the grounding
BABA AND ISHII: NUMERICAL ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD ANALYSIS OF LIGHTNING CURRENT IN TALL STRUCTURES 327

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 6. Measured [2] and computed waveforms at or around the CN Tower for a steep-front current injection. (a) Lightning current on the CN Tower. (b) Vertical
electric field at a distance of 2 km from the tower. (c) Azimuthal magnetic field at a distance of 2 km from the tower.

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 7. Measured [2] and computed waveforms at or around the CN Tower for a slow-front current injection. (a) Lightning current on the CN Tower. (b) Vertical
electric field at a distance of 2 km from the tower. (c) Azimuthal magnetic field at a distance of 2 km from the tower.

impedance and the discontinuity of impedance between the

stack and the lightning channel. The grounding resistance of
30 , employed in the present analysis, was determined to
reproduce this peak.
Goshima et al. [5] postulated 100 for the grounding
impedance of this stack to reproduce the measured cur-
rent waveform in the traveling wave analysis, where they
represented the stack and the lightning channel by lossless
transmission lines whose surge impedance was 300 and
1000 , respectively. Motoyama et al. [2] assumed the
grounding impedance of the CN Tower to be 50 . Guerrieri
et al. [4] used about 150 as the footing resistance of the
Swiss PTT Tower in the similar analysis if the tower surge Fig. 8. Waveforms of voltage source for the simulation of Figs. 6 and 7.
impedance was assumed to be 300 . This tendency, that
rather high footing impedance is required in the traveling wave
analysis to reproduce measured current waveforms, even at current injected into the CN Tower. Fig. 7 shows those for a
towers having low footing resistance, was first reported by slow-front lightning current. The thin lines are the measured
Chisholm and Janischewskyj [17]. They identified the footing waveforms, and the solid lines are the computed waveforms
impedance of a model conical tower on a metal plane as 60 in the case that the loaded vertical conductor is used as a
by the Time-Domain Reflectometry (TDR). The causes of this simulated lightning channel. The grounding resistance is set to
phenomenon are the distortion of the current wave in the tower 0 in the present analysis, which is much lower than the value
due to the intense axial electric field, and the reflection of the in the analysis based on the transmission line [2]. The reason
spherical electromagnetic wave at the ground plane [18]. Since for this difference was discussed in the preceding section. The
this apparent high footing impedance is of transient nature, it is postulated waveforms of the source voltage shown in Fig. 8 are
prominent only for currents having steep rise. much simpler than the current waveforms in Figs. 6(a) or 7(a).
The waveforms of the computed electric field and magnetic The influence of multiple reflection within the tower on the
field agree well with the measured waveforms when the loaded measured waveforms is manifest.
vertical conductor is used. The computed electric fields do not agree with the measure-
ment. The magnitudes of computed waveforms are only half of
B. CN Tower in Toronto the measurement in both cases as seen in Figs. 6(b) and Fig. 7(b).
Fig. 6 shows the measured [2] and the computed waveforms Since the analysis by NEC-2 in the fundamental case agrees
of current and fields associated with a steep-front lightning well with the theory, it is highly probable that the measuring
328
system for the electric field was not properly calibrated. The
computed magnetic fields agree with the measurement except
for dips appeared in the beginning of the measured waveforms
in both cases.
The waveforms and the peak values of fields computed by an
equivalent circuit approach [2] are somewhat similar to those
of the authors analysis for the slow-front current injection. The
initial parts of field waveforms are quite different, however, for
the fast-front current injection.
VI. CONCLUSION
The Numerical Electromagnetic Code is applied to the
analysis of lightning currents observed on freestanding tall
structures.
The computed waveforms of the electric and the magnetic
fields at a distance of 630 m from a 200 m high stack in Japan
hit by lightning agree well with the measured waveforms. In
the analysis, the stack is represented by a vertical cylinder and
the lightning channel is represented by a vertical conductor
loaded by series inductance and resistance so as to simulate the
slower propagation velocity of the current wave and the lossy
channel. This modeling of a lightning channel is demonstrated
to be useful and effective as an equivalent circuit.
The waveforms of the lightning currents measured on the CN
Tower are well reproduced by the present electromagnetic anal-
ysis, however, the magnitudes of the computed vertical electric
fields do not agree with the measurement. The calibration of the
measuring system for electric field may need to be reviewed for
the relevant measurement.
The advantage of the analysis using NEC-2 is that it can
accurately compute the current distribution along a wire struc-
ture with far smaller amount of postulation than the approaches
based on the traveling wave analysis.
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Yoshihiro Baba (S95M99) was born in
Wakayama, Japan, on February 24, 1971. He
received the B.S., M.S. and Dr. Eng. degrees in
electrical engineering from the University of Tokyo
in 1994, 1996 and 1999, respectively. He joined
the Department of Electrical Engineering, Doshisha
University in 1999. He is currently a Research
Associate there. Dr. Baba is a member of the IEE of
Japan.
Masaru Ishii (SM87) was born in Tokyo, Japan,
on March 11, 1949. He received the B.S., M.S.
and Dr. Eng. degrees in electrical engineering from
the University of Tokyo in 1971, 1973 and 1976,
respectively. He joined the Institute of Industrial
Science, the University of Tokyo in 1976, and has
been a Professor since 1992. He is presently the
chairperson of the Technical Committee on High
Voltage Engineering, the IEE of Japan. Dr. Ishii a
member of both AGU and CIGRE.