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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY
Letters
Approximation of Lightning Current Waveforms Using
Complex Exponential Functions
Mirko Yanque Tomasevich, Antonio C. S. Lima, and Robson F. S. Dias
Abstract—A key aspect to evaluate the lightning performance
of transmission lines is the correct representation of the lightning
current waveform considered. Traditionally, the analytical mod-
eling of such data might involve the use of double-exponential
functions or even Heidler functions series, i.e., partial fractions
with polynomial functions of variable degree. Herein, we propose
the fitting of lightning current waveforms to obtain a pole-residue
model as an alternative procedure. Purposely, we investigate the
performance of the vector fitting (VF) and time-domain vector
fitting (TD-VF) methods to represent continuous lightning cur-
rent waveshapes originally modeled using Heidler function series.
Four nontrivial test cases of single-crest and double-crest peaked
lightning waveforms are analyzed. Albeit comparatively accurate
results are achieved, the TD-VF provides models with lower pole
orders than the VF approach for equivalent window observation
times and time steps. Incorporation of pole-residue models in tran-
sient simulation programs can be straightforward as compared to
a Heidler function series heuristic approach.
Index Terms—Electromagnetic transient analysis, electromag-
netic transient propagation, lightning, rational functions.
I. INTRODUCTION
HE waveshapes of lightning strike currents have a wide
T variation range in parameters such as steepness, wavefront
time, crest amplitude, and wave tail time. A correct assessment
of transient overvoltages and overcurrents stresses associated
with the lightning performance of overhead lines in power sys-
tems requires a rigorous representation of such waveforms.
Purposely, double-exponential functions [1], [2], and more
recently, the formulation proposed by Heidler [3], are fre-
quently used in the analysis associated with lightning phenom-
ena. Nonetheless, these expressions are better suited to represent
median values and single-peaked lightning currents waveshapes.
Furthermore, as pointed out in [4] and [5], the averaging pro-
cess can lead to an inaccurate representation of their respective
original single-crest current patterns. To overcome this scenario,
in [6] and [7], a heuristic approach involving Heidler functions
series, i.e., partial fractions with polynomial functions of vari-
able degree, is employed to obtain an improved representation
of single- and double-peaked waveform data.
Manuscript received May 06, 2016; accepted June 12, 2016. This work was
partially supported by INERGE, FAPEMIG, CNPq, and CAPES.
M. Y. Tomasevich (independent consultant) is with Yanque Ingenieros S.A.C.,
Lima Peru (e-mail: yanque@terra.com.pe).
A. C. S. Lima and R. F. S. Dias are with the Instituto Alberto Luiz Coimbra
de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa de Engenharia, Universidade Federal do Rio de
Janeiro, 21945-970 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (e-mail: acsl@dee.ufrj.br; dias@dee
.ufrj.br).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this Letter are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TEMC.2016.2582544
0018-9375 © 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
1
These analytical modeling approaches are extendedly and
successfully used in specialized research. However, engineer-
ing analysis performed in electromagnetic transient programs
(EMTPs) is regularly done using the piecewise linear waveform
defined in [8]. Such simplification might yield inaccurate results
in frequency- and time-domain simulations.
In this letter, we investigate the fitting of lightning strike cur-
rent data as an alternative modeling approach. Two iterative
pole relocation fitting algorithms are tested: the vector fitting
(VF) [9]–[12], which processes frequency-domain data, and
the time-domain vector fitting (TD-VF) [13], which employs
time-domain samples. Both methods require the solution of an
overdetermined linear system by a least-squares method and
render pole-residue approximations as the final result.
Four test cases based on Heidler functions series [6] calcu-
lated from experimental data measured in Morro do Cachimbo
station (MCS) [14] and Mount San Salvatore (MSS) [15] are
analyzed.
We found that although both VF and TD-VF methods render
pole-residue models of comparable accuracy, optimal results
are achieved using TD-VF. Either higher pole orders or greater
window observation times are required for the VF approach to
perform competitively.
II. APPROXIMATION IN FREQUENCY AND TIME DOMAINS
A. Vector Fitting
For a linear time-invariant system, where ān is a set of initial
poles, cn are residues of the rational approximation, c̃n are
residues of the escalating function σ(s), N is the fitting order,
and d∞ is a constant real term, the relation between an input
U (s) and an output Y (s) in the frequency domain is
σ (s)

   N 
N  cn
c̃n
1+ Y (s) = + d∞ U (s) . (1)
n =1
s − ān n =1
s − ān
It can be shown that the poles of Y (s)/U (s) are the zeros
of σ(s), which allows for an iterative pole relocation process
to identify a new set of poles an ; see [10] for details. After the
poles have been identified within a small number of iterations,
the residues cn in (1) can be solved as a least-squares problem.
Both an and cn are real or come in complex conjugate pairs.
B. Time-Domain Vector Fitting
The TD-VF method [13] is based on the same iterative pole
relocation scheme of VF, albeit completely developed in the
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2 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY

time domain. Thus, rearranging (1) leads to pairs. The lightning current id 1 (t) is approximated by

N 
N 
NR

NC

Y (s) = cn U n (s) − c̃n Y n (s) + d∞ U (s) (2) id 1 (t) ≈ rn ea n t + 2 ea n r t (rn r cos(an i t) + rn i sin(an i t))
n =1 n =1 n=1 n=1

(10)
where U n (s) = U (s)/(s − ān ) and Y n (s) = Y (s)/(s − ān ).
The time-domain response y(t) can be directly obtained via where indexes r and i stand for the real and imaginary part of
the inverse Laplace transform as an and rn respectively.

N 
N
y(t) = cn un (t) − c̃n y n (t) + d∞ u(t) (3) B. Time-Domain Fitting Using TD-VF
n =1 n =1 To use TD-VF, we need to fix the unknown transfer function to
where un (t) and y n (t) are the time-domain convolution integral the arbitrary waveform data. Purposely, we evaluate the impulse
response of a system defined by an ideal impulse as input u(t)
counterparts of U n (s) and Y n (s). Through numerical integra-
and the lightning current data as output y(t). The discrete-time
tion with k discrete time samples tk , we obtain
counterpart of u(t), named as u(tk ), is given by
un (tk ) = αn un (tk −1 ) + λn u(tk ) + μn u(tk −1 ) (4) 
0, k = 0
y n (tk ) = αn y n (tk −1 ) + λn y(tk ) + μn y(tk −1 ) (5) u(tk ) = (11)
1/Δt, k = 0.
being tk = kΔt, with k = 0, 1, . . ., and Δt is the time step.
The coefficients αn , λn , and μn in the definition of un (tk ) We subject vectors u(tk ) and y(tk ) to the exponential series
and y n (tk ) are presented in the Appendix; see [16] for fitting process TD-VF leading to the poles an and residues rn .
details. The approximation of the lightning current id 2 (t) is given by
An overdetermined linear system is obtained if we write (3) 
N
using (4) and (5) for each time step. A new set of poles an can id 2 (t) ≈ rn ea n t . (12)
be estimated as the zeros of σ(s) as shown in [10] until pole n =1
convergence is reached. Finally, the residues cn and constant
term d∞ are calculated by solving (6) in the least-squares sense Note that as all calculations are developed in time domain, the
use of frequency-domain transformations is totally avoided.

N
y(t) = cn un (t) + d∞ u(t). (6) IV. COMPARISON OF TEST CASES
n =1
To assess the accuracy of VF and TD-VF fitting methods,
III. LIGHTNING WAVESHAPE MODELING four test cases considering two single-crest and two double-
crest peaked lightning current waveforms are analyzed. The
A. Frequency-Domain Fitting Using VF time-domain waveshape equation is given by a series of Heidler
To employ VF, we first need to perform a Fourier integral- functions [6], [7] as
based analysis to convert the lightning current id (t) to its N  
Ik (t/τ1k )n k
frequency-domain counterpart Id (s). Purposely, we can use the i(t) = exp(−t/τ2k ) (13)
numerical Laplace transform [17]–[20] as k =1
ηk 1 + (t/τ1k )1/n k
∞
where ηk = exp[−(τ1k /τ2k )(nk /τ1k )1/n k ], and Ik , nk , τ1k ,
Id (s) = id (t)e−st dt. (7)
0
and τ2k are empirical coefficients obtained from measurements
made at MSS and MCS.
This expression can then be approximated as The data for the parameters in (13) are originally presented


Id (s) ≈ Id (sk ) = Δt F id (tk )e−c t k (8) in [6] and reproduced here in Tables I and II. For both VF
and TD-VF fitting processes, an observation window time T =
where Δt is a constant sampling time, id (tk ) is a time-domain 50 μs and time step Δt = 10 ns are considered.
sampled data vector of the lightning current, F stands for the Figs. 1 and 2 depict the mismatches multiplied by 50 for
fast Fourier transform operator, c is a real constant for the com- the fitting of the lightning currents associated with MCS and
plex frequency s = c + jω, with ω = 2πf being the angular MSS using VF and TD-VF. The mismatches are calculated as
frequency of the sampled data, and sk is the vector of sampled Δ1 = |i(t) − id 1 (t)| and Δ2 = |i(t) − id 2 (t)|, where id 1 (t) and
complex frequencies. As id (t) is both real and causal, the use id 2 (t) are the VF and TD-VF pole-residue approximations and
of an antialiasing window filter was unnecessary. i(t) is the original waveshape calculated using (13).
We subject vectors sk and Id (sk ) to the rational approxima- The mismatch Δ1 presents a deviation peak at t = 0+ μs,
tion fitting process VF leading to the poles an and residues rn . followed by an almost constant value through the rest of T . This
In the frequency domain, Id (s) can be expressed as is due to VF uniform pole distribution along the frequency band
NC  and the arise of small inaccuracies of negative value in the fitting
NR
rn  rn rn∗ of very high frequency data. Conversely, for the mismatch Δ2 ,
Id (s) ≈ + + (9)
n =1
s − an n =1 s − an s − a∗n a localized peak appears at the time where an inflection point
in the wavefront of i(t) is reached, after which a minimum and
where the symbol “*” stands for complex conjugate, being NR stable value holds. These results are related to the sensibility of
and NC the number of real poles and complex conjugate pole TD-VF to signal slope changes.
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY 3

Fig. 1. Fitted waveshapes—MCS. (a) MCS #1—VF (40 poles). (b) MCS #1—TD-VF (26 poles). (c) MCS #2—VF (44 poles). (d) MCS #2—TD-VF (26 poles).

Fig. 2. Fitted waveshapes—MSS. (a) MSS #1—VF (56 poles). (b) MSS #1—TD-VF (32 poles). (c) MSS #2—VF (74 poles). (d) MSS #2—TD-VF (42 poles).

TABLE I TABLE III

DATA PARAMETERS—MCS FITTING RESULTS FOR MCS AND MSS TEST CASES

MCS #1 MCS #2 Fitting Test # # Poles RMSE

k Ik nk τ1 k τ2 k Ik nk τ1 k τ2 k Method Case Iter. Total Real Complex (×10 −3 )

(kA) (p.u.) (μs) (μs) (kA) (p.u.) (μs) (μs)
VF MCS #1 17 40 2 38 22.79
1 6 2 3 76 6 2 3 76 MCS #2 11 44 4 40 21.38
2 5 3 3.5 10 5 3 3.5 10 MSS #1 18 56 4 52 16.42
3 5 5 4.8 30 5 5 4.8 30 MSS #2 21 74 6 68 22.33
4 8 9 6 26 8 9 6 26 TD-VF MCS #1 12 26 2 24 30.32
5 22 21 7 23.2 16.5 30 7 23.2 MCS #2 17 26 4 22 28.61
6 20 2 70 200 17 2 70 200 MSS #1 19 32 4 28 26.86
7 – – – – 12 14 12 26 MSS #2 23 38 2 36 26.86

TABLE II In both cases, the RMSE values were three orders of magni-
DATA PARAMETERS—MSS tude lower than i(t). The accuracy improvement using higher
pole orders was negligible. This result suggests that a local min-
MSS #1 MSS #2 imum with an optimal fitting order was reached.
Furthermore, the RMSE values of VF are slightly lower than
k Ik nk τ1 k τ2 k Ik nk τ1 k τ2 k the ones of TD-VF, but the former requires nearly twice the
(kA) (p.u.) (μs) (μs) (kA) (p.u.) (μs) (μs)
pole order of the latter, as lower pole orders render an inaccu-
1 2.8 2 1.2 100 3 2 3 76 rate fitting of the wave tail part and Δ1 tends to proportionally
2 4.8 3 3 100 4.5 3 3.5 25 increase. This can be explained as the truncation of the signal
3 2.9 5 4.8 25 3 5 5.2 20 in time domain leaves out the low frequency-domain spectrum
4 4.1 7 6 60 3.8 7 6 60 of the wave tail part. Hence, higher pole orders are required for
5 16.7 36 6.6 44 13.6 44 6.6 60
6 11 2 100 600 11 2 10 600
VF to compensate for the lack of frequency-domain data. This
7 – – – – 5.7 15 11.7 48.5 issue is worsened by the use of weighted functions, which tend
to relocate the initial poles into the high frequency range, further
increasing Δ1 . Thus, a feasible way to reduce the pole order of
VF is to increase T . For instance, if a value of T = 100 μs or
Table III presents the number of iterations, the number of greater is used, a total of less than 30 poles is required.
real, complex and total poles and the total root-mean-square A greater number of poles are used in both VF and TD-VF to
error (RMSE) corresponding to VF and TD-VF pole-residue represent double crest peaked waveforms than for single crest
models. peaked ones. Even though a comparable number of iterations
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4 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY
is needed for VF and TD-VF to reach convergence, the overall
fitting process of TD-VF was slightly slower. This is due to
the numerical integration scheme needed to perform the con-
volution integrals in (4) and (5). Result differences using either
trapezoidal rule or recursive convolutions to perform the numer-
ical integration were negligible.
Although not shown here, it was found that albeit VF and
TD-VF render representative and accurate models, their respec-
tive pole-residue sets are rather distinct. This finding will be
addressed in a future work.
V. CONCLUSION
For the fitting of the lightning waveform data analyzed, we
found that both the VF and TD-VF methods are capable to
calculate pole-residue approximations of comparable accuracy.
However, the VF method showed an intrinsic difficulty to han-
dle data obtained from time-domain truncated waveshapes, as it
requires greater observation window times to perform competi-
tively with TD-VF. This result can be explained as the truncation
of the signal in the time domain leaves out the low frequency-
domain spectrum of the wave tail part; thus, VF compensates
for the lack of frequency-domain data with higher pole orders.
An improved fitting of the lower frequencies is achieved using
TD-VF, as lower pole orders are obtained using the original
observation window time determined by the truncated lightning
current waveshape data. This is due to TD-VF natural adequacy
to handle the fitting of time-domain data entirely in its native
domain, avoiding the use of any intermediate frequency-domain
transformation.
An important application of this finding is the possibility
to represent lightning current waveshapes as low order pole-
residue models insertable into EMTP simulations of shield-
ing failures and backflashovers in transmission lines to im-
prove the evaluation of surge arresters and tower footing
impedances.
Future work will address the differences between the pole-
residue sets calculated with VF and TD-VF, and the fitting of
discrete experimental lightning current waveshape data mea-
sured from instrumented research masts or structures.
APPENDIX
DISCRETE NUMERICAL INTEGRATION
The numerical integration coefficients αn , λn , and μn in (4)
and (5) relate to a recursive convolutions [21] or trapezoidal
rule [22], [23] approach. For a set of poles an and time step Δt,
if recursive convolutions are adopted, we have
αn = exp(an Δt)
tegral, assuming a piecewise linear approximation of the input
signal. The ones in (15), used in various EMTPs, also assume
a piecewise linear approximation for the exponential kernel of
the convolution integral, hence are less precise.
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