Investigating the impact of transmission line design parameters in the rocky mountain regions to improve the lightning back-flashover performance

Ramezani, Nabiollah; Bagheri, Mohammad

doi:10.22075/jme.2025.37279.2833

Investigating the impact of transmission line design parameters in the rocky mountain regions to improve the lightning back-flashover performance

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

nabiollah ramezani

Mohammad Bagheri

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering-University of Science and Technology of Mazandaran

10.22075/jme.2025.37279.2833

Abstract

When lightning strikes the guard wires or the top of a transmission tower, the lightning current is discharged into the ground through the tower structure. This causes an increase in the tower's potential, resulting in an overvoltage across the insulator string. If the voltage across the insulator exceeds its dielectric withstand level, a back-flashover (BFO) may occur. Overhead transmission lines (OHLs) passing through rocky mountainous regions are particularly vulnerable to lightning, due to shorter striking distances and high soil resistivity. Therefore, accurately estimating the maximum overvoltage caused by lightning in mountainous regions is an important issue. This paper presents an analysis of BFO patterns to investigate the impact of various OHL design parameters in rocky mountainous areas particularly the design of an effective tower footing grounding system, with the aim of improving lightning performance. The simulation was conducted on a 132 kV double-circuit OHL using EMTP-RV software. The obtained results were validated with the presented results in reference and demonstrated good agreement.

Keywords

Rocky mountain regions

Two-story grounding system

Lightning

BFO

Subjects