Calculating lightning-induced overvoltages in power lines. A comparison of two coupling models

A comparison is made between two coupling models frequently used to estimate the lightning-induced overvoltages in power lines. The first model was introduced by Rusck (1957) and the second model by Agrawal, Price, and Gurbaxani (1980). In the nomenclature adopted in this paper, the first model is referred to as the “Rusck model” and the second as the “Wave Antenna Model.” The transmission line equations of the Rusck model can be written in such away that the forcing term in the equations is the horizontal electric field. The results show that the Rusck model is incomplete. It takes into account the portion of the horizontal electric field generated by the gradient of the scalar potential but neglects the contribution from the vector potential. This defect in the Rusck model makes it source-dependent. That is, the Rusck model can give accurate results only when the spatial location of the source that generates the electromagnetic field is such that the contribution of the vector potential to the horizontal field is either zero or can be neglected. Under such circumstances the Rusck model and the Wave Antenna Model are described by the same transmission line equations, and the results predicted by the two models are identical