Measurement of Magnetic Fields Generated by a Lightning Current Flowing Through Reinforced Concrete Walls

Estimating the transient magnetic field generated by a direct lightning strike is essential to protect sensitive electronic devices in industrial facilities. The accuracy of the estimation depends on the approach and the representatives of the model. Out of the different alternatives available in the literature, the full-wave methods are usually the most reliable. Nevertheless, there is still uncertainty in the results because considering all the components of the electromagnetic environment in the models is virtually impossible. To validate the representation of reinforced concrete structures in full-wave simulations, in this paper, we compare the magnetic field measured between two interconnected reinforced concrete walls to the magnetic field computed using CST Studio Suite. Similar tendencies for the distribution of the peak-values are observed; yet, some adjustments may be necessary to reproduce the waveforms.