Lightning protection for a mosque!

A mosque is an important religious structure with high safety requirements. Some are included in the list of protected critical infrastructure.

It is highly recommended to install lightning protection in a mosque in order to provide safety for the building and people inside. A mosque is mostly made up of high structures, the domes of which literally attract lightning.

We have already published examples of lightning protection calculations for a temple and a church, which are very similar to a mosque in structure. The main differences between a mosque and a temple are the shape of the building and certain elements, the decoration and the materials that are used. This data is individual and can be changed by the client during construction depending on the style of architecture that has been chosen. There are no significant differences in the building plans, which is why the lightning protection design is quite similar.

The object: is a square structure with two towers located symmetrical to each other relative to the principal axis.

The task: is to carry out calculations for a lightning protection system in a mosque using the following regulatory documents:

• Instructions for the organization of lightning protection for buildings, structures and industrial communications IS 153-34.21.122-2003 (hereinafter IS);
• Electrical Installation Code rev. 7 Chapter 1.7 (hereinafter EIC);
• Instructions for the lightning protection of buildings and structures AD 34.21.122-87 (hereinafter AD).

Solution:

A mosque is classified to be in the third category of lightning protection system according to AD, while in accordance with IS, the requirements for an ordinary building are applied to it.

The building under consideration has metal spires that can be used as a natural lightning rod. Read more in this article. A down conductor and grounding device are made of additional parts.

The set of measures to provide the required lightning protection is as follows:

1. Connecting down conductors to the metal crosses on the dome with the clips ZZ-005-064.
2. Laying two down conductors to the grounding device using copper-bonded wire D=8 mm. Two down conductors are connected for each lightning rod. The down conductors should be located no closer than 3 m to entrances or in places where people cannot touch them. The down conductors are fixed on the roof with clamps GL-11747A. The down conductor is fixed to vertical surfaces with the help of clamps GL-11703A.
3. Installation of the grounding device, consisting of three vertical electrodes (copper-clad pins 14 mm in diameter, 3 m long, joined by a horizontal electrode (copper-clad tape of 30x4 mm). The distance between the vertical electrodes is at least 5 meters, the distance from the horizontal electrode to the building walls is 1 m and the depth is 0.5 m.
4. The down conductor is connected to the output of the copper-bonded tape from the ground with the help of clamp GL-11562A.

Location of lightning protection elements:

Lightning protection elements layout (View 1)

Lightning protection elements layout (View 2)

Legend

Protection zone