Measurements and modeling of current impulses in the lightning protection system and internal electrical installation equipped with household appliances

• Current impulse generator experiments conducted at the test site are described.
• Measured current waveforms in the lightning protection system are presented.
• Rise time of current waveforms is observed and analyzed.
• Frequency-dependent model of the lightning protection system is proposed.
• Measured data and simulations of registered impulse currents are compared.

Open air experiments were conducted of impulse current distribution in the lightning protection system, supplying cable and electrical installation of a test house equipped with electrical and electronic household appliances. Impulse currents were injected from the generator into the installation. Current distributions in elements of tested system were measured with multi-channel electro-optical system. To verify the experimental results the simulations of surge current in the test house modeled in ATP-EMTP were conducted. The obtained results show a good agreement between measured and numerically simulated currents and significant influence of frequency dependent parameters of the test house elements on both the amplitude and the shape of current waveforms.