Modification of streamer-to-leader transition model based on radial thermal expansion in the sphere-plane gap discharge at high altitude

Abstract Historically, streamer-to-leader transition studies mainly focused on the rod-plane gap and low altitude analysis, with limited attention paid to the sphere-plane gap at high altitude analysis. In this work, sphere-plane gap discharge tests were carried out under the gap distance of 5 m at the Qinghai Ultra High Voltage (UHV) test base at an altitude of 2200 m. The experiments measured the physical parameters such as the discharge current, electric field intensity and instantaneous optical power. The duration of the dark period and the critical charge of streamer-to-leader transition were obtained at high altitude. Based on radial thermal expansion of the streamer stem, we established a modified streamer-to-leader transition model of the sphere-plane gap discharge at high altitude, and calculated the stem temperature, stem radii and the duration of streamer-to-leader transition. Compared with the measured duration of sphere-plane electrode discharge at an altitude of 2200 m, the error rate of the modified model was 0.94%, while the classical model was 6.97%, demonstrating the effectiveness of the modified model. From the comparisons and analysis, several suggestions are proposed to improve the numerical model for further quantitative investigations of the leader inception.