Experimental study on lightning breakdown channels in the soils

Present day models do not satisfactorily describe the surge behavior of earth under the passage of lightning currents which result in a single breakdown channel. This paper presents preliminary results of an investigation into the factors that affect lightning current propagation in different soils under single channel formation. The results presented in this paper were obtained using an indoor experimental system and examine the influence of soil characteristics and source capacity and voltage on lightning channel characteristics. It is hoped that these results will be useful in establishing models which describe both single and multiple channel formation in soils