Atmospheric Overvoltages Suppression: In Situ and Analytical Validation

This article deals with the issues arising from nonadequately designed grounding system of the telecommunication cell tower, in situ experimental investigations, novel system design, and consecutive verification as well as in-depth analysis based on the analytical model. The aforementioned surge pulse-based experiments confirmed the validity of the proposed modification in the grounding system geometry. As a measure of the novel solution's effectiveness, the attenuation factor of the grounding system is used, defined as a ratio of the measured surge pulse peak at the electrode beginning and its end, with and without the novel modification. The value obtained with the modification active is 2.44, in comparison with the value of 1.12 for the bypassed modification. In order to obtain a more general set of conclusions, the modification is additionally verified by applying analytical modeling that enables the consideration of various parameters of the presented problem, in particular in terms of the various lightning pulses according to EN 62305 and for different electrode lengths. Presenting a continuation of the previously reported findings, this article exhibits that the analytical model can serve for engineering estimation of the grounding electrode response to various pulses and to design the optimal electrode geometry.