Statistical Assessment of Lightning-Induced Overvoltages in Low Voltage Lines

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to present an efficient procedure for the accurate assessment of the frequency of lightning-originated faults in low voltage distribution lines. The advantage of the proposed procedure lies in the application of the stratified sampling technique, which allows to reduce the computational effort required by the Monte Carlo method. Indeed, such a sampling technique is particularly effective when the collecting area is very large, as in the lightning performance analysis of low voltage lines. The paper shows the results for the case of an overhead cable line and similar results have been obtained for a line with bare conductors. The procedure is also applied for the selection of surge protective devices through the assessment of the statistical distribution of their absorbed charges.