Quantitative modeling of streamer discharge branching in air

Abstract

Streamer discharges are the primary mode of electric breakdown of air in lightning and high voltage technology. Streamer channels branch many times, which determines the developing tree-like discharge structure. Understanding these branched structures is for example important to describe streamer coronas in lightning research. We simulate branching of positive streamers in air using a 3D fluid model where photoionization is included as a discrete and stochastic process. The probability and morphology of branching are in good agreement with dedicated experiments. This demonstrates that photoionization indeed provides the noise that triggers branching, and we show that branching is remarkably sensitive to the amount of photoionization. Our comparison is therefore one of the first sensitive tests for Zheleznyak's photoionization model, confirming its validity.

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• 3D modeling of positive streamers in air with inhomogeneous density
• Calculating radio emissions of positive streamer phenomena using 3D simulations
• A unified fluid model for nonthermal plasmas and reacting flows
• Macroscopic parameterization of positive streamer heads in air
• SF6 streamer breakdown induced by floating linear metal particles: Following streamers and side streamers
• Data-driven reduced modeling of streamer discharges in air
• Computational Model for Photoionization in Pure SF6 Streamer at 1-15 atm