Validation of equivalent circuit lightning model of strike to a steel reinforced structure

Lightning strikes to facilities can pose hazards to personnel as well as sensitive processes and equipment. Steel reinforcement in a structure can act as a Faraday cage that can mitigate the effects of lightning. An equivalent circuit lightning model (ECLM) of a strike´s response in a steel reinforced structure has been developed using PSpice^® (a commercial circuit simulation) where segments of rebar are modeled as inductors and resistors in series. Programs have been written to take the architectural information of a steel reinforced structure and create a circuit network that is analogous to the network of reinforcement in a facility. A current waveform representing a severe lightning strike is introduced in the simulated circuit network, and potential differences within the structure are determined using PSpice^®. In order to validate the ECLM of a steel reinforced structure, high current pulses were injected into two-dimensional steel grids and potential differences across various nodes of the grids were measured. Grids were then simulated using the lightning circuit model to compare with measured potential differences. Validation tests of steel grids provide evidence that the ECLM agrees well with high voltage test measurements.