Análise da tensão de passo com origem em uma descarga atmosférica através do método dos elementos finitos

Abstract

The effects of lightning are objects of studies in several areas that, in general, try to mitigate their harmful consequences. In the context of civil buildings, the occurrence of this phenomenon generates dangerous points in places that shelter people and equipment essential to the public service. Thus, with the objective of evaluating the harmful effects originated from an atmospheric discharge, a study will be proposed about the characteristics of the dissipation of currents in the ground through the contact with a grounding system excited by this event, causing, in the practical segment, the return of electric current in grounded lines and the generation of touch and step voltages. Therefore, when working on a problem involving the fundamentals of electromagnetism, the computational tool Ansys Maxwell was selected with the desire to visualize the electric potential drop when subjected to a dielectric medium. As a result, through the low impedance of human bodies, currents at unacceptable levels can be conducted, causing serious damage such as burns to human tissues and, with voltage variations, heart fibrillation. Finally, the results showed that even in a soil with low apparent resistivity, adequate current levels were only found at long distances in relation to the grounding electrodes, demonstrating the danger that exists for individuals who remain in inappropriate places during rainy times.