A long term study on the performance of early streamer emission air terminals in a high keraunic region

The very high keraunic level in Malaysia makes it an ideal location for the field testing of lightning air terminals. The widespread use of the early streamer emission (ESE) air terminals enabled their performance to be studied under real lightning conditions. Lightning strike damage data that would have taken decades to collect in low keraunic regions can be done in a few years only. Using a lightning interception prediction method that was developed by the authors, it was possible to obtain pre-strike and post-strike photographs of the affected buildings. The failure of the ESE air terminals to intercept nearby lightning strikes posed an unacceptable risk to public safety. An earlier version of this study had been submitted to the National Fire Protection Association (USA) in 1999 as part of a review on the efficacy of the ESE air terminals.