Modeling of the air plasma near the tip of the positive leader

Author

Vidal, François ; Gallimberti, Ivo ; Rizk, Farouk A.M. ; Johnston, Tudor Wyatt ; Bondiou-Clergerie, Anne ; Comtois, Daniel ; Kieffer, Jean-Claude ; La Fontaine, Bruno ; Mercure, Hubert P. ; Pépin, Henri

Author_Institution

Inst. Nat. de la Recherche Scientifique, Univ. du Quebec, Varennes, Que., Canada

Volume

30

Issue

3

fYear

2002

fDate

6/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1339

Lastpage

1349

Abstract

With the aim of elucidating the role of thermal effects in air in the leader propagation, the properties of the ionized air (charged species densities, electric field, and air temperature) in a limited region near the tip of the positive leader were calculated using a two-dimensional axisymmetric numerical model. Charged-particle densities and the electric field were treated consistently. Compared with the geometrical field, the actual electric field appears to be much more uniform and is strongly reduced at the tip due to the plasma shielding. As a consequence of the field damping, thermal effects are determined to play a negligible role outside the leader boundary.

Keywords

air; discharges (electric); ionisation; plasma simulation; air plasma modeling; air temperature; charged species densities; charged-particle densities; electric field; field damping; geometrical field; ionized air; leader boundary; leader propagation; lightning; plasma shielding; positive leader tip; thermal effects; two-dimensional axisymmetric numerical model; Air gaps; Bonding; Damping; Electrodes; Electrons; Heating; Lightning; Numerical models; Plasma density; Plasma temperature;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TPS.2002.801538

Filename

1158297