Two Dimensional Cellular Automaton for Lightning Leader Propagation and Prediction in Giant South Indian Heritage Monument

With growing concerns related to climate change, protection of heritage monuments from lightning strikes has become vital. Though several research studies have culminated in the development of lightning protection systems, challenges related to strikes on tall structures, complexities in protection of monuments with varying geometries, uncertainties in leader prediction modeling etc., continue to confront researchers. This research envisages a novel framework for implementation of two-dimensional Cellular Automata (CA) based on stochastic field fluctuation criterion (FFC) for leader growth. A random variable which relates to uncertainty associated with atmospheric ionization, air density, etc., is utilized in modeling the field fluctuation. The electric field and potential in the highly conductive region are computed using the Laplace equation. Detailed simulations of CA models are carried out for a prominent world heritage monument in India, which has reported lightning strikes. Case studies for prediction of leader propagation based on varying cloud height, location, potential etc., have been carried out. Exhaustive analysis has been carried out to determine the vulnerable points during leader attachment on the monuments. Comparison of the leader trajectory with that of ‘striking distance’ as stipulated in standards is carried out to ascertain the effectiveness of the proposed models