Surge protective device failure caused by triggered lightning continuing current and M component

In this study, the ground potential rise (GPR) resulting from the current injection into the grounding grid is observed. Results show that the GPR of the far-distance grounding grid creates back flashover and damage of a surge protective device (SPD). The charge transfer in the SPD reaches 2.27 C, and the energy consumption in SPD reaches 1934.4 J. Under this case, the zinc-oxide SPD, with a nominal discharge current of 40 kA, will fail. Our analyses show that the electrical charge impacting the SPD is quite large in the process of M components following the return stroke, and this large charge is attributed to the high currents of M components superimposed on the continuing current, and to its short time interval from the preceding return stroke.