Effect of inhomogeneities on streamer propagation: II. Streamer dynamics in high pressure humid air with bubbles

The branching of electric discharge streamers in atmospheric pressure air, dense gases and liquids is a common occurrence whose origins are likely found with many causes, both deterministic and stochastic. One mechanism for streamer branching may be inhomogeneities in the path of a streamer which either divert the streamer (typically a region of lower ionization) or produce a new branch (a region of higher ionization). The propagation and branching of streamers in liquids is likely aided by low density inhomogeneities, bubbles; however, modeling of streamers in liquids is made difficult by the lack of transport coefficients. As a first step towards understanding the propagation and branching of streamers in liquids, we investigated the consequences of random inhomogeneities in the form of low pressure bubbles on the propagation of streamers in high pressure humid air. By virtue of their lower density, bubbles have larger E/N (electric field/gas number density) than the ambient gas with larger rates of ionization. The intersection of a streamer with a bubble will focus the plasma into the bubble by virtue of that higher rate of ionization but the details of the interaction depend on the relative sizes of the bubble and streamer. When a streamer intersects a field of bubbles, the large E/N in the bubble avalanches seed electrons produced by photoionization from the streamer. Each bubble then launches both a negative and positive going streamer that may link with those from adjacent bubbles or the original streamer. The total process then appears as streamer branching.