Simplified 3-D Modeling of Reinforced Concrete for the Calculation of Transient Electromagnetic Fields inside a Building Struck by Lightning

Although the impact of the lightning electromagnetic pulse can be well approximated by using full-wave methods, generally the simulations demand a long computation time and large memory requirements, due to the number of elements that have to be included in the model of the electromagnetic environment. In this paper, we present an optimization technique to simplify the 3-D representation of the reinforcement, in case of a direct strike. By reducing the multi-layered steel grid into a single-layered grid, a solution for all points in the environment can still be obtained, using less computational resources.