A Novel Procedure to Represent Lightning Return Strokes—Current Dissipation Return Stroke Models

Engineering return stroke models available in the literature can be divided into two categories, namely, current propagation models and current generation models. Based on the theory of pulse propagation along transmission lines in the presence of corona, a third procedure to describe return strokes, which, in fact, is the inverse of current generation models, is introduced. Models based on the new concept are called current dissipation models. In the current generation models, the corona currents generated by the neutralization of the corona sheath travel downward and the cumulative effects of these corona currents generate the return stroke current. In current dissipation models, the return stroke is initiated by a current pulse injected into the core of the leader channel at ground level. This injected current pulse travels upward with speed vc . If the return stroke channel is treated as a transmission line, then this speed is equal to the speed of light. The propagation of this pulse along the central core initiates the neutralization of the corona sheath leading to the release of corona currents into the central core. In contrast to current generation models in which corona currents travel downward, these corona currents travel upward along the core. The speed of propagation of the corona pulses upward along the core is also equal to vc. The corona currents, being of opposite polarity, lead to the dissipation of the injected current pulse. As in the case of current generation models, a current dissipation model can be described completely by any three of the following four parameters. They are: 1) channel base current; 2) spatial variation of the return stroke velocity; 3) spatial variation of the corona decay time constant; and 4) the spatial variation of the positive charge deposited by the return stroke on the leader channel. It is also shown that current propagation models available in the literature are special cases of current dissipation m- odels.