Data from five rocket-triggered lightning flashes are adopted to analyse the correlated transient response of buried cables and lightning channel radiations. These five flashes have the same termination point that is right above the buried cables and involve a total of 32 return strokes. Research objects here include armoured four-core cables with two layout forms: a 40-m cable arranged in an L-line (termed as L-shaped cable) and 20-m cable arranged in a straight line (termed as straight cable)

each with a diameter of 1.08 cm and buried underground at a depth of 70 cm. Results show that voltage of both cables exhibits a double-peak signature

with the first pulse peaking at a higher value

227–1023 V. The layout form has a remarkable influence on the rise time and half-peak width of cable voltages. The averaged voltage rise time for the straight cable is 2.4 μs

and the half-peak width is 2.4–5.8 μs

whereas those for the L-shaped cable are smaller

being 0.8 μs and 1.2–1.8 μs for the former and latter

respectively. Moreover

it appears that the L-shaped layout form can

to some extent

reduce the amplitude of cable voltage. Furthermore

parametric correlation analyses show that the peak voltage of buried cables is approximately directly proportional to the peak time derivative of the magnetic field documented at a distance of 75 m from the lightning channel

whereas the peak channel luminosity

also measured at a distance of 75 m from the lightning channel

is directly proportional to the square of peak cable voltage.