Application of the electromagnetic field method to study a communication satellite site damaged by lightning

This paper presents a case study of a satellite communications site at which equipment was damaged during a lightning storm. The transient ground potential rise (GPR) and stress voltages on the damaged equipment (HPA) during a lightning storm are obtained using the electromagnetic field theory method. The stress voltage on the HPA is reduced by 75% (from 25 kV to 6 kV) when the isolated signal ground wire is electrically bonded to a nearby equipment ground. An extended grounding system has little influence on the stress voltages at the beginning of the transient period; however, it reduces the stress voltages significantly (by about 50%) after the first 3 μs.