THE EFFECT OF NEUTRAL EARTHING PRACTICES ON LIGHTNING CURRENT DISPERSION IN A LOW-VOLTAGE INSTALLATION

Computer modeling with the EMTP code has been applied to several confi gurations and earthing practices in use in various countries to show t he effect of any differences in the dispersion (sharing) of a lightnin g stroke current among the available paths for the earth-seeking light ning current. Simplifying assumptions have been made to some details o f the configurations to focus on the main difference - earthing practi ces. Identifying such differences provides the necessary perspective o n their significance and the strong need to take them into considerati on when developing international standards on surge-protective device applications.