Python For Engineering and Scientific Computing

3.5    Project Task: Lightning Protection System

Let’s say, for a cuboid-shaped building, the currents in the lightning conductor and down conductor need to be calculated. The building has a length of 10 m, a width of 5 m, and a height of 3 m. The lightning and down conductors made of steel with a conductor cross-section of A = 50 mm² are installed on the edges of the building. For the top view, this results in a network with four nodes and eight resistors, as shown in Figure 3.5. The time course of a lightning current can be approximately described by a triangle with a rise time of about 10 µs and a fall time of about 1 ms. The maximums of the currents are approximately between 10,000 A and 300,000 A.

Figure 3.5     Substitute Circuit for ...