Thin wire representation of the vertical conductor in surge simulation

Simulation of very fast surge phenomena in a three-dimensional (3-D) structure requires a method based on Maxwell's equations, such as the FDTD (finite difference time domain) method or the MoM (method of moments), because circuit-equation-based methods cannot handle the phenomena. This paper describes a method of thin wire representation of the vertical conductor system for the FDTD method which is suitable for the 3-D surge simulation. The thin wire representation is indispensable to simulate electromagnetic surges on wires or steel frames of which the radius is smaller than a discretized space step used in the FDTD simulation. A general surge analysis program named VSTL (Virtual Surge Test Lab.) based on the Maxwell equations formulated by the FDTD method is used to simulate the surge phenomena of a vertical conductor, including the effects of ground plane and without ground plane. By use of the Maxwell equations, VSTL is inherently able to take into account the three-dimensional geometrical features of a simulated structure unlike EMTP-type circuit-based transient programs. Comparisons between calculated results by the FDTD method, theoretical results and computed results by the NEC-2 (Numerical Electromagnetic Code) based on the MoM are presented to show the accuracy of the thin wire representation.