Induced Voltages on Overhead Line by Return Strokes to Grounded Wind Tower Considering Horizontally Stratified Ground

Wind power plants are one of the most widespread sources of electric energy during the last few decades. Wind towers are quite often exposed to lightning strikes due to their tall height and long blades. In this paper, the lightning-induced voltages (LIVs) on a three-phase overhead line are computed for both first and subsequent strokes to a nearby grounded wind tower using the three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method with homogeneous and horizontally stratified grounds. The horizontal electric fields are computed on the line and on the ground surface considering the transient grounding and characteristic impedances of the struck wind tower. The impact of the existence of wind tower on LIVs and horizontal electric fields is illustrated by removing the tower (i.e., return stroke to the ground surface). Finally, the influence of ground permittivity on the peak values of LIVs is investigated.