Evaluation of Horizontal Electric Field from the Lightning Channel by Electromagnetic Field Equations of Moving Charges

Abstract EN

The horizontal electric field from the lightning return-stroke channel is evaluated by the electromagnetic field equations of moving charges in this paper.

When a lightning flash strikes the ground, the charges move upward the lightning channel at the return-stroke speed, thereby producing the electromagnetic fields.

According to the electromagnetic field equations of moving charges, the detained charges, uniformly moving charges, and decelerating (or accelerating) charges in each segment of the channel generate electrostatic fields, velocity fields, and radiation fields, respectively.

The horizontal component of the sum is the horizontal electric field over the perfectly conducting ground.

For the real soil with finite conductivity, the Wait formula is used here for the evaluation of the horizontal electric field over the realistic soil.

The proposed method can avoid the oscillation of the fields in the long distance by the FDTD method and the singularity problem of the integral equation by the Sommerfeld integral method.

The influences of the return-stroke speed, distance, and soil conductivity on the horizontal electric field are also analyzed by the proposed method.

The conclusions can be drawn that the horizontal electric field decreases with the increasing of the return-stroke speed; the negative offset increases with the increasing of horizontal distance and with the decreasing of the soil conductivity, thereby forming the bipolar waveform.

These conclusions will be practically valuable for the protection of lightning-induced overvoltage on the transmission lines.