Numerical modeling of combined corona-electrostatic fields

An original numerical method is proposed for solving the differential equations that describe the combined corona-electrostatic electric fields. The assumptions made for the derivation of the mathematical model are similar to those commonly employed for the study of plain corona fields. The procedure is based on the use of a special approximation algorithm for non-linear differential operators. It enabled the computation of the spatial distribution of the electric field and of the charge density in the drift zone of the corona discharge generated between a so-called dual electrode and a grounded plate. The dual electrode consisted of an ionizing wire (diameter: View the MathML source) located at View the MathML source from a tubular metallic support (diameter: View the MathML source). The computed current–voltage characteristic for this arrangement was in good agreement with the experimental data. The method can be applied to virtually any other corona-electrostatic field geometry.