This award will support Professor Martin Uman of the University of Florida in a research collaboration with Dr. Francisco de la Rosa of the Mexican Institute of Electrical Research in Cuernavaca, Mexico. The investigators intend to pursue the development of a procedure for estimating the lightning performance of unprotected distribution lines, taking into account the effect of both direct and close lightning. Also, the investigators plan to implement an evaluation program for determining the improvement of lightning performance by using different protection schemes. Lightning is one of the major causes of damage to electric power distribution systems. Many studies have attempted to determine the effects of direct strokes on both transmission and distribution power lines. Recent work has demonstrated that, for the case of distribution lines, even those strokes that terminate on ground in the close vicinity of the line can produce a voltage whose peak amplitude is large enough to produce an insulation failure. Working independently, the two collaborators have obtained important results, such as the significance of the horizontal component of the electric field, which have markedly improved our understanding of the mechanism of induced voltage generation. Using a specially constructed experimental facility near Cuernavaca, the two researchers now plan to join efforts to better understand the effect of lightning strokes on power distribution lines.
