I C L P

International Conference on Lightning Protection

EB

EXECUTIVE BOARD

University of Rome "La Sapienza", via Eudossiana, 18, 00184 Rome, Italy, tel.:+39 06 445 85 814

2008.03.18

DKE 251_2008-0070 DKE 251.0.4_2008-0031 DKE 251.0.7_2008-0014

To CENELEC Att.: Mr. Jean-Paul VETSUYPENS, Technical Director of CENELEC 35, Rue de Stassartstraat B-1050 Brussels, Belgium

Ref.: The approval of the Lightning Protection Standards EN 62305 (1-4) and the required withdrawal of conflicting national standards. According to the specification in CENELECs General Guidelines, the standards should be based on sound scientific research, and in addition, CENELEC Encourage those participating in European R&D programmes to feed back their results into European Standard Organizations as appropriate, we therefore take the liberty to inform you about the existence of conflicting, and not scientifically sound national standards in addition to the EN Lightning Protection Standards approved two years ago. The International Conference on Lightning Protection (ICLP) is a scientific/technical organ trying to promote scientific research concerning lightning phenomena as well as methods for improving protection of people, animals and properties against the effects of lightning. ICLP is represented by a group of about 20 professors, from different countries over the world, specializing in lightning phenomena, and forming the Scientific Committee of ICLP1. Regular international conferences on lightning phenomena and lightning protection of structures and services are organized by ICLP in order to provide an interdisciplinary forum for the exchange of scientific knowledge and information among scientists and engineers who are engaged in research and practical application on lightning protection and to ensure the effective transfer of new knowledge from lightning research into practice for the benefit of our societies. On several occasions ICLP has been consulted to give advices, recommendations, and support in questions related to lightning standards in different part of the world. Therefore, we feel obliged to inform you and the member countries about the unfortunate existence of conflicting national standards in Europe, and to provide the necessary time for the withdrawal process in the individual countries and to ensure an official reaction in time from CENELEC. The European Lightning Protection Standards EN 62305 (1-4), as you know, were approved by the CENELECs member countries in the beginning of 2006, thus, according to CENELECs regulations, any conflicting national standards have to be withdrawn within a year. Unfortunately, a number of conflicting standards exist in Europe, concerning non-conventional Lightning Protection Systems utilizing the so-called ESE (Early Streamer Emission) lightning rods. However, the claimed function of the ESE lightning rods and the hypothesized efficiency improvement, as a function of the so-called time advantage, in comparison to ordinary lightning rods, has shown not to function according to the hypothesis. This has been verified: 1. by investigations in practice of flashes to buildings bypassing the claimed area of protection, 2. by experimental set-ups of different types of lightning rods simultaneous exposed to natural lightning,
1

For more information about ICLP see the homepage: http://www.iclp-centre.org/

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3. by theoretical investigations, and 4. by numerical simulations of the physical processes. Therefore, these standards have to be withdrawn alone for safety reasons. Furthermore, the ESE standard, in addition to a number of other conflicting items and deficiencies, rest on a misinterpretation and wrongly use of the Electro Geometrical Model, a conventional method, widely used in lightning protection standards, and also used in the EN/IEC Standards. This misinterpretation has resulted in a serious conflict with the approved EN/IEC standard, and resulted in the peculiar situation outlined below. According to the ESE standards, ESE lightning rods with zero time advantage will function identical to ordinary lightning rods. However, in the case of ESE rods with zero time advantage, the ESE standards specify a smaller number of lightning rods than required by the EN/IEC standards to protect structures, and in addition the ESE standard leaves the sides of tall buildings unprotected. Thus, in addition to the wrong and unsupported hypothesis for the function of the ESE rods, the ESE standards are in direct conflict with the approved EN/IEC ones, and therefore, for both reasons, have to be withdrawn according to the CENELEC regulations. As France has been the first nation issuing an ESE standard, and as the ESE standards in the other nations in essence are copies hereof, as a start, we have informed the French standard organisation, UTE, about the unfortunate situation and the consequences in order to give them sufficient time for the withdrawal (see the attached copy of our last three letters of 2006.04.06, 2007.11.22 and 2008.02.04). Unfortunately, until now, we have had no answer about the progress in this process. As the time is running short, we have found it necessary to inform you, and the member countries, without any further delay, to provide time sufficient for you, and the other countries having ESE standards2, for accomplishing the withdrawal in time. We will be looking forward to your response and action, and if necessary, we will be happy to provide you with further information if required. Sincerely yours Scientific Secretary of ICLP Prof. Farhad Rachidi Vice President of ICLP Prof. Vernon Cooray President of ICLP Prof. Carlo Mazzetti

Attached: Copy of letter to UTE, France, 2006.04.06 Copy of letter to UTE, France, 2007.11.22. Copy of letter to UTE, France, 2008.02.04.

Information copies to: CENELECs member countries and CENELECs affiliated countries.

To our knowledge, in addition to the ESE standard in France, at least 6 other member countries have similar national ESE standards, but we have no knowledge about the situation in the affiliated countries.
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