Numerical Electromagnetic Analysis of Lightning Current in Elevated Strike Objects

In this paper, an analysis of electric and magnetic fields radiated by lightning first and subsequent return strokes to tall towers using Numerical Electromagnetic Code (NEC-2) is presented. The advantage of the analysis using NEC-2 is that it can accurately compute the current distribution along a conductor system by the method of moments. It is shown that the presence of a tower tends, in general, to increase substantially the electric and magnetic field peaks. The presented results are shown to be consistent with the measured current in lightning strokes to the CN Tower and of the associated electromagnetic fields measured 2 km away.