The Art and Science of Lightning Protection

Description

A lightning strike to an unprotected object or system can be disastrous - in the United States lightning is responsible for over 30% of all electric power failures, causes billions of dollars' worth of property damage, and an average of 85 fatalities a year. This accessible text describes all aspects of lightning protection and includes many illustrative drawings and photographs. The author examines the physical behavior of lightning, various types of lightning damage, the role of lightning detection and warning in effective protection, as well as options for deflecting or eliminating lightning. U.S. and international lightning protection standards are discussed. This book will be essential reading for everyone involved in the business of lightning protection, including meteorologists, atmospheric scientists, architects, engineers, and fire-safety experts. Insurance practitioners and physicians will find this reference of significant value.

Martin A. Uman is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Florida. He is generally acknowledged to be one of the world's leading authorities on lightning, and has been the recipient of numerous awards for his work including the 2001 American Geophysical Union John Adam Fleming Medal and the 1996 Heinrich Hertz Medal by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). Professor Uman has written several previous books on the subject of lightning including Lightning: Physics and Effects co-authored by Vladimir A. Rakov (Cambridge University Press, 2003).

Reviews of the author's previous book Lightning: Physics and Effects (Cambridge University Press, 2003) 'Rarely in the history of science has one contribution covered a subject with such depth and thoroughness as to set the enduring standard for years, perhaps even decades, to come.' EOS 'This book is clearly the most complete compilation of material on the physics and effects of lightning that exists today. It is well written, and I expect that it will be an important reference for both specialists and nonspecialists alike in future years.' American Meteorological Society 'Rakov and Uman's encyclopedic work will be extremely useful for specialists as a rich source of factual and bibliographic information.' Physics Today 'The authors of this book deserve to be complimented for their study of natural events and their efforts in writing this book. It is a very useful reference book not only for people interested in lightning and thunder but also for researchers and scientists working on high-voltage engineering and nonlinear systems.' IEEE Circuits Devices Magazine 'This is an extremely comprehensive - and hence, incredibly useful - scholarly compendium of all that is known about lightning, its causes, and the many different ways in which lightning influences our world and our human activities.' Surveys in Geophysics