Grounding Design

[MRM]

We're involved in the site design and soils testing (soil borings for strength properties, etc., and soil resistivity testing) for cellular phone towers. As of now, we use the grounding design specifications from the cellular phone company, as they have asked us to.

We'd like to provide more detailed grounding designs in order to optimize the designs and, at the same time, make sure the designs are adequate. What is the best software available to check the specified systems for grounding design, including resistance required and current dissipation during a lightning strike?
Thanks

 

[VEBill]

Is grounding to earth considered to be a critical part of lightning protection systems ?

The immediate reaction is, 'Yes, of course!'

The one word rebuttal is 'aircraft'.

 

[dpc]

The most popular software for grounding system design and evaluation that I am aware of is called CDEGS. You can find info here:

http://www.sestech.com/.

I don't use the software, but among engineers in the US who do a lot of grounding design, it seems to be the de facto standard.