This paper presents the results of an analysis of the observed incidence of lightning strikes to a wide range of earthed structures in Hong Kong. The data were obtained for 161 structures and span the period 1988{1996. These structures were protected with lightning air terminals, placed in the optimum locations on each structure using a new positioning method which is an improvement of the simple`electrogeometric model'. The aims of the paper are fourfold, namely to assess (i) the e¬ectiveness of this new lightning protection positioning method, (ii) the validity of various attractive radius models, especially since many of the structures are located in high-density city blocks, (iii) the validity of a Poisson model for describing the strike frequency, and(iv) the e¬ect of any assumed height dependence of the median peak current on the attractive radius models.The results show a signi cant positive correlation between expected and actual strike frequency and con rm that the interception e¯ciency of the lightning protection system is in accord with the speci ed protection levels. In general, attractive radius and Poisson strike models for`free-standing' structures are found to be valid except for structures of height less than 100 m in dense city blocks. The results also show an in®uence due to positive ®ashes and a decrease in attractive radius if the peak lightning stroke current is assumed to be dependent on the structure height.
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