A new-intelligent method for evaluating the lightning protection system performance of complex and asymmetric structures

In order to model and visualize the performance of lightning and its protection system, several analytical methods such as the rolling sphere method (RSM) have been developed in which protected and unprotected areas are separated. However, in none of these methods, the scale and severity of the damage can be quantified numerically. In this paper, by using the leader progression model (LPM) in 3D space along with an intelligent algorithm named Teaching-Learning-Based optimization (TLBO), a new method is proposed to identify the vulnerable areas with the highest probability of lightning strikes. In using the TLBO algorithm, a new method for determining the critical range of current is defined and the most vulnerable points on the structure are determined, so that, based on the simulation results, the best positions of the lightning rods can be specified respectively. A sample asymmetric structure of height less than 60 meters is analyzed as a case study, and the optimal locations and heights of lightning rods are determined using the rolling sphere method and the proposed method, respectively. The simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method which makes it suitable for other complex structures.