A study on the influence of corona on currents and electromagnetic fields predicted by a nonlinear lightning return-stroke model

• Published in: Journal of geophysical research. Atmospheres Vol. 119; no. 9; pp. 5142 - 5156
• Main Authors: De Conti, Alberto, Silveira, Fernando H., Visacro, Silvério
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington Blackwell Publishing Ltd 16-05-2014
• Subjects: Channels; Corona; Coronas; Electric fields; Electromagnetic fields; Electromagnetism; Geophysics; Lightning; Mathematical models; Nonlinear resistance; Nonlinearity; Nonuniform; Return-stroke model; Studies; Transmission lines
• ISSN: 2169-897X; 2169-8996
• DOI: 10.1002/2013JD020915

This paper investigates the influence of corona on currents and electromagnetic fields predicted by a return‐stroke model that represents the lightning channel as a nonuniform transmission line with time‐varying (nonlinear) resistance. The corona model used in this paper allows the calculation of corona currents as a function of the radial electric field in the vicinity of the channel. A parametric study is presented to investigate the influence of corona parameters, such as the breakdown electric field and the critical electric field for the stable propagation of streamers, on predicted currents and electromagnetic fields. The results show that, regardless of the assumed corona parameters, the incorporation of corona into the nonuniform and nonlinear transmission line model under investigation modifies the model predictions so that they consistently reproduce most of the typical features of experimentally observed lightning electromagnetic fields and return‐stroke speed profiles. In particular, it is shown that the proposed model leads to close vertical electric fields presenting waveforms, amplitudes, and decay with distance in good agreement with dart leader electric field changes measured in triggered lightning experiments. A comparison with popular engineering return‐stroke models further confirms the model's ability to predict consistent electric field waveforms in the close vicinity of the channel. Some differences observed in the field amplitudes calculated with the different models can be related to the fact that current distortion, while present in the proposed model, is ultimately neglected in the considered engineering return‐stroke models.
Key Points
Corona influence on predictions of a nonlinear return stroke model is studied
Corona and nonlinear channel resistance contribute positively to model results
Model predictions are in good agreement with measured data