The study of lightning connection to structures by the simultaneous use of high-speed camera and sensors

• Grant number: 19/20304-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2020
• End date: January 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Magalhães Fares Saba
• Grantee: Henrique Valente Halada de Oliveira
• Host Institution: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE). Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (Brasil). São José dos Campos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The standards that define the requirements for the installation of a Lightning Protection System (LPS) are still based on empirical methods, models and theories that lack data from observations of the actual behavior of LPSs (Bouquegneau, 2007; Becerra 2008). As of 2014, no video had been shot fast enough to understand how lightning rods in buildings react to the approach of lightning. The first record of an lightning rod action in response to an approaching lightning strike was made on February 9, 2014 using a Phantom V711 high-speed camera (acquired in 2013 through FAPESP Auxílio Regular 2012/153757), in the city of São Paulo by Dr. Marcelo M F Saba (advisor of this IC proposal, researcher from the National Institute for Space Research - INPE and research team leader. Since then, similar records were obtained and new instrumentation such as current sensors, electric field and X-rays sensors were added at the measurement site.The main goal of this study is to automatize and synchronize data from various sensors and cameras in order to obtain a better characterization and understanding of the processes that are involved on the lightning connection to lightning rods of common structures.