TY - JOUR A1 - Blanke, Tobias A1 - Hagenkamp, Markus A1 - Döring, Bernd A1 - Göttsche, Joachim A1 - Reger, Vitali A1 - Kuhnhenne, Markus T1 - Net-exergetic, hydraulic and thermal optimization of coaxial heat exchangers using fixed flow conditions instead of fixed flow rates JF - Geothermal Energy N2 - Previous studies optimized the dimensions of coaxial heat exchangers using constant mass fow rates as a boundary condition. They show a thermal optimal circular ring width of nearly zero. Hydraulically optimal is an inner to outer pipe radius ratio of 0.65 for turbulent and 0.68 for laminar fow types. In contrast, in this study, fow conditions in the circular ring are kept constant (a set of fxed Reynolds numbers) during optimization. This approach ensures fxed fow conditions and prevents inappropriately high or low mass fow rates. The optimization is carried out for three objectives: Maximum energy gain, minimum hydraulic efort and eventually optimum net-exergy balance. The optimization changes the inner pipe radius and mass fow rate but not the Reynolds number of the circular ring. The thermal calculations base on Hellström’s borehole resistance and the hydraulic optimization on individually calculated linear loss of head coefcients. Increasing the inner pipe radius results in decreased hydraulic losses in the inner pipe but increased losses in the circular ring. The net-exergy diference is a key performance indicator and combines thermal and hydraulic calculations. It is the difference between thermal exergy fux and hydraulic efort. The Reynolds number in the circular ring is instead of the mass fow rate constant during all optimizations. The result from a thermal perspective is an optimal width of the circular ring of nearly zero. The hydraulically optimal inner pipe radius is 54% of the outer pipe radius for laminar fow and 60% for turbulent fow scenarios. Net-exergetic optimization shows a predominant infuence of hydraulic losses, especially for small temperature gains. The exact result depends on the earth’s thermal properties and the fow type. Conclusively, coaxial geothermal probes’ design should focus on the hydraulic optimum and take the thermal optimum as a secondary criterion due to the dominating hydraulics. Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40517-021-00201-3 SN - 2195-9706 N1 - Corresponding author: Tobias Blanke VL - 9 IS - Article number: 19 PB - Springer CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Poghossian, Arshak A1 - Schöning, Michael Josef T1 - Recent progress in silicon-based biologically sensitive field-effect devices JF - Current Opinion in Electrochemistry N2 - Biologically sensitive field-effect devices (BioFEDs) advantageously combine the electronic field-effect functionality with the (bio)chemical receptor’s recognition ability for (bio)chemical sensing. In this review, basic and widely applied device concepts of silicon-based BioFEDs (ion-sensitive field-effect transistor, silicon nanowire transistor, electrolyte-insulator-semiconductor capacitor, light-addressable potentiometric sensor) are presented and recent progress (from 2019 to early 2021) is discussed. One of the main advantages of BioFEDs is the label-free sensing principle enabling to detect a large variety of biomolecules and bioparticles by their intrinsic charge. The review encompasses applications of BioFEDs for the label-free electrical detection of clinically relevant protein biomarkers, deoxyribonucleic acid molecules and viruses, enzyme-substrate reactions as well as recording of the cell acidification rate (as an indicator of cellular metabolism) and the extracellular potential. Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coelec.2021.100811 SN - 2451-9103 IS - Article number: 100811 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hugenroth, Kristin A1 - Borchardt, Ralf A1 - Ritter, Philine A1 - Groß‑Hardt, Sascha A1 - Meyns, Bart A1 - Verbelen, Tom A1 - Steinseifer, Ulrich A1 - Kaufmann, Tim A. S. A1 - Engelmann, Ulrich M. T1 - Optimizing cerebral perfusion and hemodynamics during cardiopulmonary bypass through cannula design combining in silico, in vitro and in vivo input JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is a standard technique for cardiac surgery, but comes with the risk of severe neurological complications (e.g. stroke) caused by embolisms and/or reduced cerebral perfusion. We report on an aortic cannula prototype design (optiCAN) with helical outflow and jet-splitting dispersion tip that could reduce the risk of embolic events and restores cerebral perfusion to 97.5% of physiological flow during CPB in vivo, whereas a commercial curved-tip cannula yields 74.6%. In further in vitro comparison, pressure loss and hemolysis parameters of optiCAN remain unaffected. Results are reproducibly confirmed in silico for an exemplary human aortic anatomy via computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Based on CFD simulations, we firstly show that optiCAN design improves aortic root washout, which reduces the risk of thromboembolism. Secondly, we identify regions of the aortic intima with increased risk of plaque release by correlating areas of enhanced plaque growth and high wall shear stresses (WSS). From this we propose another easy-to-manufacture cannula design (opti2CAN) that decreases areas burdened by high WSS, while preserving physiological cerebral flow and favorable hemodynamics. With this novel cannula design, we propose a cannulation option to reduce neurological complications and the prevalence of stroke in high-risk patients after CPB. Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-96397-2 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 11 IS - Art. No. 16800 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Springer CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Neumaier, Felix A1 - Weiss, Miriam A1 - Veldeman, Michael A1 - Kotliar, Konstantin A1 - Wiesmann, Martin A1 - Schulze-Steinen, Henna A1 - Höllig, Anke A1 - Clusmann, Hans A1 - Schubert, Gerrit Alexander A1 - Albanna, Walid T1 - Changes in endogenous daytime melatonin levels after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage – preliminary findings from an observational cohort study JF - Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery N2 - Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) is associated with early and delayed brain injury due to several underlying and interrelated processes, which include inflammation, oxidative stress, endothelial, and neuronal apoptosis. Treatment with melatonin, a cytoprotective neurohormone with anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-apoptotic effects, has been shown to attenuate early brain injury (EBI) and to prevent delayed cerebral vasospasm in experimental aSAH models. Less is known about the role of endogenous melatonin for aSAH outcome and how its production is altered by the pathophysiological cascades initiated during EBI. In the present observational study, we analyzed changes in melatonin levels during the first three weeks after aSAH. KW - constructive alignment KW - examination KW - long-term retention KW - multimodal KW - practical learning Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clineuro.2021.106870 SN - 0303-8467 VL - 208 IS - Article No.: 106870 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Merkens, Torsten A1 - Hebel, Christoph T1 - Sharing mobility concepts – flexible, sustainable, smart T2 - Proceedings of the 1st UNITED – Southeast Asia Automotive Interest Group (SAIG) KW - Sharing mobility KW - electro mobility KW - business models KW - mobility behaviour Y1 - 2021 SN - 978-3-902103-94-9 N1 - Proceedings of the 1st UNITED – Southeast Asia Automotive Interest Group (SAIG), International Conference, International Collaboration towards Sustainable and Green, Automotive Technology, 21-22 April 2021 Chulalongkorn University, Thailand SP - 43 EP - 44 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brockhaus, Moritz K. A1 - Behbahani, Mehdi A1 - Muris, Farina A1 - Jansen, Sebastian V. A1 - Schmitz- Rode, Thomas A1 - Steinseifer, Ulrich A1 - Clauser, Johanna C. T1 - In vitro thrombogenicity testing of pulsatile mechanical circulatory support systems: Design and proof-of-concept JF - Artificial Organs N2 - Thrombogenic complications are a main issue in mechanical circulatory support (MCS). There is no validated in vitro method available to quantitatively assess the thrombogenic performance of pulsatile MCS devices under realistic hemodynamic conditions. The aim of this study is to propose a method to evaluate the thrombogenic potential of new designs without the use of complex in-vivo trials. This study presents a novel in vitro method for reproducible thrombogenicity testing of pulsatile MCS systems using low molecular weight heparinized porcine blood. Blood parameters are continuously measured with full blood thromboelastometry (ROTEM; EXTEM, FIBTEM and a custom-made analysis HEPNATEM). Thrombus formation is optically observed after four hours of testing. The results of three experiments are presented each with two parallel loops. The area of thrombus formation inside the MCS device was reproducible. The implantation of a filter inside the loop catches embolizing thrombi without a measurable increase of platelet activation, allowing conclusions of the place of origin of thrombi inside the device. EXTEM and FIBTEM parameters such as clotting velocity (α) and maximum clot firmness (MCF) show a total decrease by around 6% with a characteristic kink after 180 minutes. HEPNATEM α and MCF rise within the first 180 minutes indicate a continuously increasing activation level of coagulation. After 180 minutes, the consumption of clotting factors prevails, resulting in a decrease of α and MCF. With the designed mock loop and the presented protocol we are able to identify thrombogenic hot spots inside a pulsatile pump and characterize their thrombogenic potential. Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/aor.14046 SN - 1525-1594 VL - 45 IS - 12 SP - 1513 EP - 1521 PB - Wiley CY - Weinheim ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Tran, Ngoc Trinh A1 - Staat, Manfred T1 - FEM shakedown analysis of Kirchhoff-Love plates under uncertainty of strength T2 - Proceedings of UNCECOMP 2021 N2 - A new formulation to calculate the shakedown limit load of Kirchhoff plates under stochastic conditions of strength is developed. Direct structural reliability design by chance con-strained programming is based on the prescribed failure probabilities, which is an effective approach of stochastic programming if it can be formulated as an equivalent deterministic optimization problem. We restrict uncertainty to strength, the loading is still deterministic. A new formulation is derived in case of random strength with lognormal distribution. Upper bound and lower bound shakedown load factors are calculated simultaneously by a dual algorithm. Y1 - 2021 SN - 978-618-85072-6-5 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.7712/120221.8041.19047 N1 - Proceedings of UNCECOMP 2021, 4th International Conference on Uncertainty Quantification in Computational Sciences and Engineering, streamed from Athens, Greece, 28–30 June 2021. SP - 323 EP - 338 ER - TY - THES A1 - Jung, Alexander T1 - Electromechanical modelling and simulation of hiPSC-derived cardiac cell cultures Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hbz:464-20210624-134942-7 SN - 978-3-9821811-1-0 N1 - Dissertation, Universität Duisburg-Essen, 2021 PB - Universität Duisburg-Essen ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Hoegen, Anne von A1 - Doncker, Rik W. De A1 - Bragard, Michael A1 - Hoegen, Svenja von T1 - Problem-Based Learning in Automation Engineering: Performing a Remote Laboratory Session Serving Various Educational Attainments T2 - 2021 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON) Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/EDUCON46332.2021.9453925 SP - 1605 EP - 1614 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Hüning, Felix A1 - Stüttgen, Marcel T1 - Work in Progress: Interdisciplinary projects in times of COVID-19 crisis – challenges, risks and chances T2 - 2021 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON) Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/EDUCON46332.2021.9454006 SP - 1175 EP - 1179 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Götten, Falk A1 - Finger, Felix A1 - Havermann, Marc A1 - Braun, Carsten A1 - Marino, M. A1 - Bil, C. T1 - Full configuration drag estimation of short-to-medium range fixed-wing UAVs and its impact on initial sizing optimization JF - CEAS Aeronautical Journal N2 - The paper presents the derivation of a new equivalent skin friction coefficient for estimating the parasitic drag of short-to-medium range fixed-wing unmanned aircraft. The new coefficient is derived from an aerodynamic analysis of ten different unmanned aircraft used for surveillance, reconnaissance, and search and rescue missions. The aircraft is simulated using a validated unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes approach. The UAV’s parasitic drag is significantly influenced by the presence of miscellaneous components like fixed landing gears or electro-optical sensor turrets. These components are responsible for almost half of an unmanned aircraft’s total parasitic drag. The new equivalent skin friction coefficient accounts for these effects and is significantly higher compared to other aircraft categories. It is used to initially size an unmanned aircraft for a typical reconnaissance mission. The improved parasitic drag estimation yields a much heavier unmanned aircraft when compared to the sizing results using available drag data of manned aircraft. KW - Parasitic drag KW - UAV KW - CFD KW - Aircraft sizing Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13272-021-00522-w SN - 1869-5590 (Online) SN - 1869-5582 (Print) N1 - Corresponding author: Falk Götten VL - 12 SP - 589 EP - 603 PB - Springer CY - Berlin ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Olderog, M. A1 - Mohr, P. A1 - Beging, Stefan A1 - Tsoumpas, C. A1 - Ziemons, Karl T1 - Simulation study on the role of tissue-scattered events in improving sensitivity for a compact time of flight compton positron emission tomograph T2 - 2020 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (NSS/MIC) N2 - In positron emission tomography improving time, energy and spatial detector resolutions and using Compton kinematics introduces the possibility to reconstruct a radioactivity distribution image from scatter coincidences, thereby enhancing image quality. The number of single scattered coincidences alone is in the same order of magnitude as true coincidences. In this work, a compact Compton camera module based on monolithic scintillation material is investigated as a detector ring module. The detector interactions are simulated with Monte Carlo package GATE. The scattering angle inside the tissue is derived from the energy of the scattered photon, which results in a set of possible scattering trajectories or broken line of response. The Compton kinematics collimation reduces the number of solutions. Additionally, the time of flight information helps localize the position of the annihilation. One of the questions of this investigation is related to how the energy, spatial and temporal resolutions help confine the possible annihilation volume. A comparison of currently technically feasible detector resolutions (under laboratory conditions) demonstrates the influence on this annihilation volume and shows that energy and coincidence time resolution have a significant impact. An enhancement of the latter from 400 ps to 100 ps leads to a smaller annihilation volume of around 50%, while a change of the energy resolution in the absorber layer from 12% to 4.5% results in a reduction of 60%. The inclusion of single tissue-scattered data has the potential to increase the sensitivity of a scanner by a factor of 2 to 3 times. The concept can be further optimized and extended for multiple scatter coincidences and subsequently validated by a reconstruction algorithm. Y1 - 2021 SN - 978-1-7281-7693-2 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/NSS/MIC42677.2020.9507901 N1 - 2020 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (NSS/MIC), 31 Oct.-7 Nov. 2020, Boston, MA, USA PB - IEEE ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hackl, Michael A1 - Buess, Eduard A1 - Kammerlohr, Sandra A1 - Nacov, Julia A1 - Staat, Manfred A1 - Leschinger, Tim A1 - Müller, Lars P. A1 - Wegmann, Kilian T1 - A "comma sign"-directed subscapularis repair in anterosuperior rotator cuff tears yields biomechanical advantages in a cadaveric model JF - The american journal of sports medicine N2 - Background: Additional stabilization of the “comma sign” in anterosuperior rotator cuff repair has been proposed to provide biomechanical benefits regarding stability of the repair. Purpose: This in vitro investigation aimed to investigate the influence of a comma sign–directed reconstruction technique for anterosuperior rotator cuff tears on the primary stability of the subscapularis tendon repair. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: A total of 18 fresh-frozen cadaveric shoulders were used in this study. Anterosuperior rotator cuff tears (complete full-thickness tear of the supraspinatus and subscapularis tendons) were created, and supraspinatus repair was performed with a standard suture bridge technique. The subscapularis was repaired with either a (1) single-row or (2) comma sign technique. A high-resolution 3D camera system was used to analyze 3-mm and 5-mm gap formation at the subscapularis tendon-bone interface upon incremental cyclic loading. Moreover, the ultimate failure load of the repair was recorded. A Mann-Whitney test was used to assess significant differences between the 2 groups. Results: The comma sign repair withstood significantly more loading cycles than the single-row repair until 3-mm and 5-mm gap formation occurred (P≤ .047). The ultimate failure load did not reveal any significant differences when the 2 techniques were compared (P = .596). Conclusion: The results of this study show that additional stabilization of the comma sign enhanced the primary stability of subscapularis tendon repair in anterosuperior rotator cuff tears. Although this stabilization did not seem to influence the ultimate failure load, it effectively decreased the micromotion at the tendon-bone interface during cyclic loading. Clinical Relevance: The proposed technique for stabilization of the comma sign has shown superior biomechanical properties in comparison with a single-row repair and might thus improve tendon healing. Further clinical research will be necessary to determine its influence on the functional outcome. Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/03635465211031506 SN - 1552-3365 SN - 0363-5465 VL - 49 IS - 12 SP - 3212 EP - 3217 PB - Sage CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Staat, Manfred T1 - An extension strain type Mohr–Coulomb criterion JF - Rock mechanics and rock engineering N2 - Extension fractures are typical for the deformation under low or no confining pressure. They can be explained by a phenomenological extension strain failure criterion. In the past, a simple empirical criterion for fracture initiation in brittle rock has been developed. In this article, it is shown that the simple extension strain criterion makes unrealistic strength predictions in biaxial compression and tension. To overcome this major limitation, a new extension strain criterion is proposed by adding a weighted principal shear component to the simple criterion. The shear weight is chosen, such that the enriched extension strain criterion represents the same failure surface as the Mohr–Coulomb (MC) criterion. Thus, the MC criterion has been derived as an extension strain criterion predicting extension failure modes, which are unexpected in the classical understanding of the failure of cohesive-frictional materials. In progressive damage of rock, the most likely fracture direction is orthogonal to the maximum extension strain leading to dilatancy. The enriched extension strain criterion is proposed as a threshold surface for crack initiation CI and crack damage CD and as a failure surface at peak stress CP. Different from compressive loading, tensile loading requires only a limited number of critical cracks to cause failure. Therefore, for tensile stresses, the failure criteria must be modified somehow, possibly by a cut-off corresponding to the CI stress. Examples show that the enriched extension strain criterion predicts much lower volumes of damaged rock mass compared to the simple extension strain criterion. Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00603-021-02608-7 SN - 1434-453X N1 - Corresponding author: Manfred Staat VL - 54 IS - 12 SP - 6207 EP - 6233 PB - Springer Nature CY - Cham ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Grieger, Niklas A1 - Schwabedal, Justus T. C. A1 - Wendel, Stefanie A1 - Ritze, Yvonne A1 - Bialonski, Stephan T1 - Automated scoring of pre-REM sleep in mice with deep learning JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Reliable automation of the labor-intensive manual task of scoring animal sleep can facilitate the analysis of long-term sleep studies. In recent years, deep-learning-based systems, which learn optimal features from the data, increased scoring accuracies for the classical sleep stages of Wake, REM, and Non-REM. Meanwhile, it has been recognized that the statistics of transitional stages such as pre-REM, found between Non-REM and REM, may hold additional insight into the physiology of sleep and are now under vivid investigation. We propose a classification system based on a simple neural network architecture that scores the classical stages as well as pre-REM sleep in mice. When restricted to the classical stages, the optimized network showed state-of-the-art classification performance with an out-of-sample F1 score of 0.95 in male C57BL/6J mice. When unrestricted, the network showed lower F1 scores on pre-REM (0.5) compared to the classical stages. The result is comparable to previous attempts to score transitional stages in other species such as transition sleep in rats or N1 sleep in humans. Nevertheless, we observed that the sequence of predictions including pre-REM typically transitioned from Non-REM to REM reflecting sleep dynamics observed by human scorers. Our findings provide further evidence for the difficulty of scoring transitional sleep stages, likely because such stages of sleep are under-represented in typical data sets or show large inter-scorer variability. We further provide our source code and an online platform to run predictions with our trained network. Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-91286-0 SN - 2045-2322 N1 - Corresponding author: Stephan Bialonski VL - 11 IS - Art. 12245 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ball, Christopher Stephen A1 - Vögele, Stefan A1 - Grajewski, Matthias A1 - Kuckshinrichs, Wilhelm T1 - E-mobility from a multi-actor point of view: Uncertainties and their impacts JF - Technological Forecasting and Social Change Y1 - 2021 SN - 0040-1625 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120925 VL - 170 IS - Art. 120925 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Engelmann, Ulrich M. A1 - Shasha, Carolyn A1 - Slabu, Ioana T1 - Magnetic nanoparticle relaxation in biomedical application: focus on simulating nanoparticle heating T2 - Magnetic nanoparticles in human health and medicine Y1 - 2021 SN - 978-1-119-75467-1 SP - 327 EP - 354 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken, New Jeersey ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Bornheim, Tobias A1 - Grieger, Niklas A1 - Bialonski, Stephan T1 - FHAC at GermEval 2021: Identifying German toxic, engaging, and fact-claiming comments with ensemble learning T2 - Proceedings of the GermEval 2021 Workshop on the Identification of Toxic, Engaging, and Fact-Claiming Comments : 17th Conference on Natural Language Processing KONVENS 2021 Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.48415/2021/fhw5-x128 N1 - SP - 105 EP - 111 PB - Heinrich Heine University CY - Düsseldorf ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hagenkamp, Markus A1 - Blanke, Tobias A1 - Döring, Bernd T1 - Thermoelectric building temperature control: a potential assessment JF - International Journal of Energy and Environmental Engineering N2 - This study focuses on thermoelectric elements (TEE) as an alternative for room temperature control. TEE are semi-conductor devices that can provide heating and cooling via a heat pump effect without direct noise emissions and no refrigerant use. An efficiency evaluation of the optimal operating mode is carried out for different numbers of TEE, ambient temperatures, and heating loads. The influence of an additional heat recovery unit on system efficiency and an unevenly distributed heating demand are examined. The results show that TEE can provide heat at a coefficient of performance (COP) greater than one especially for small heating demands and high ambient temperatures. The efficiency increases with the number of elements in the system and is subject to economies of scale. The best COP exceeds six at optimal operating conditions. An additional heat recovery unit proves beneficial for low ambient temperatures and systems with few TEE. It makes COPs above one possible at ambient temperatures below 0 ∘C. The effect increases efficiency by maximal 0.81 (from 1.90 to 2.71) at ambient temperature 5 K below room temperature and heating demand Q˙h=100W but is subject to diseconomies of scale. Thermoelectric technology is a valuable option for electricity-based heat supply and can provide cooling and ventilation functions. A careful system design as well as an additional heat recovery unit significantly benefits the performance. This makes TEE superior to direct current heating systems and competitive to heat pumps for small scale applications with focus on avoiding noise and harmful refrigerants. Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40095-021-00424-x N1 - Corresponding author: Markus Hagenkamp VL - 13 SP - 241 EP - 254 PB - Springer CY - Berlin ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Kern, Alexander A1 - Imani Vashiani, Anahita A1 - Timmermanns, Tobias T1 - Threat for human beings due to touch voltages and body currents caused by direct lightning strikes in case of non-isolated lightning protection systems using natural components T2 - 35th International Conference on Lightning Protection (ICLP) and XVI International Symposium on Lightning Protection (SIPDA) N2 - For typical cases of non-isolated lightning protection systems (LPS) the impulse currents are investigated which may flow through a human body directly touching a structural part of the LPS. Based on a basic LPS model with conventional down-conductors especially the cases of external and internal steel columns and metal façades are considered and compared. Numerical simulations of the line quantities voltages and currents in the time domain are performed with an equivalent circuit of the entire LPS. As a result it can be stated that by increasing the number of conventional down-conductors and external steel columns the threat for a human being can indeed be reduced, but not down to an acceptable limit. In case of internal steel columns used as natural down-conductors the threat can be reduced sufficiently, depending on the low-resistive connection of the steel columns to the lightning equipotential bonding or the earth termination system, resp. If a metal façade is used the threat for human beings touching is usually very low, if the façade is sufficiently interconnected and multiply connected to the lightning equipotential bonding or the earth termination system, resp. KW - Lightning protection system KW - down-conductor KW - steel columns KW - metal façade KW - touch voltage Y1 - 2021 SN - 978-1-6654-2346-5 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ICLPandSIPDA54065.2021.9627465 N1 - 35th International Conference on Lightning Protection (ICLP) and XVI International Symposium on Lightning Protection (SIPDA), 20-26 Sept. 2021, Colombo, Sri Lanka PB - IEEE ER -