An experimental work on effect of bending down conductor with reinforced concrete

Abstract

Down conductor is one of the pivotal parts of the Lightning Protection System (LPS) that diverting the lightning current captured by the air termination system to the earth termination system in each protected structure. A straight down conductor, is ideally suited for the best-case scenario regarding reliability and safety protection. One to aesthetical aspects, down conductor is undesirably bent in most current buildings. However, only the primary bare type of a down conductor is undergone such process, and bent at a certain degree which depending on the structure itself. Hence, this study is to investigate the bending degree effect on down conductors, by looking at breakdown voltage around the bent area with the presence of concrete wall and reinforcement bar. This experimental work conducted on a reduced scale of reinforced concrete which tested with high impulse voltage. It was determined that the bending down conductors has a significant effect on the bent (vertex) area with the interaction of concrete wall and reinforcement bar.