Number of stems around the H.V. electrode in a 0.74-m air gap under positive impulse

Abstract

Stem is a special short bright zone for the streamer to leader transition in long air gap discharges, whose characteristics play an important role in leader initiation and development. For the purpose of observing the number of stems around the H.V. electrode at the initial corona discharge, experiments were conducted under positive switching and lightning impulses with different crest values, and the schlieren photographs of stems and the discharge current were recorded synchronously. The associated analysis of the experimental results shows that the number of stems around the electrode at the initial corona discharge is always more than one in most cases. In addition, the average number of stems increases with the radius of the electrode and the crest value of applied impulse. If we focus on the characteristic of only one stem for special study, the conditions with a lower crest value under switching impulse and the electrode with a radius as small as possible are preferable.