Failure of the Collection Volume Method and Attempts of the ESE Lightning ROD Industry to Resurrect it

Abstract

Abstract:To facilitate the marketing of their devices, the vendors of Early Streamer Emission (ESE) lightning rods are attempting to get the Collection Volume Method (CVM) in IEEE Standard 998 which deals with the Shielding of Substations. This attempt follows their failures before IEC, Standards Australia and the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association). Voting on the standards of the IEEE is done by a pool of persons, most of whom are not lightning experts. The same applies to potential buyers of ESE devices who are being wooed by use of the CVM. This paper seeks to enlighten those persons by using indisputable field observations to prove invalidity of the CVM. The paper also shows that development of the CVM rested on a false perception that discrepancies existed between field observations and predictions of the Electrogeometric Model (EGM), and that the CVM failed to address those claimed discrepancies.

Glow corona generation and streamer inception at the tip of grounded objects during thunderstorms: revisited

“…Instead, the present results show that the space charge shielding rapidly decays below the rod tip, allowing streamers to be readily initiated from the rod body instead. This conclusion is consistent with several photographic records of lightning strikes that occurred below the tips of tall structures [26], where the successful upward connecting leader (which follows after streamer initiation) emanated from the side of the structures rather than their tips.…”

Origin of the Fine Scale Tortuosity in Sparks and Lightning Channels

“…He analysed the nature of tortuosity and estimated that the average angle of tortuosity in lightning channels is about 17.3 0 . Since then several studies have been conducted to analyse the tortuosity of lightning and spark channels both theoretically and experimentally [2,3,4,5].…”

Analyses of launch sites lightning protection systems by 3D numerical modelling and experimental tests

“…The method assumes that under no circumstances can lightning strike the areas below the object tip. This assumption, however, has lots of faults along with numerous counterexamples [10]. Rolling sphere method is known as an efficient method for three-dimensional and complicated structures.…”

“…Rolling sphere method is known as an efficient method for three-dimensional and complicated structures. It is necessary to note that horizontal distance has no explicit reference to field intensification on the structure being protected in none of the above-mentioned analytical methods and that upward leader's movement onset and striking point calculations are merely based on the equipment layout and placement [10,11]. Therefore, leader progression method (LPM) has been introduced as an efficient numerical computational method for determining the rout of downward leader and its ultimate striking point and the initiation condition and propagation of upward leaders which has been frequently used [12][13][14][15].…”