Evaluation of electromagnetic fields due to inclined lightning channel in presence of ground reflection

Abstract

In this paper, analytical field expressions are proposed to determine the electromagnetic fields due to an inclined lightning channel in the presence of a ground reflection at the striking point. The proposed method can support different current functions and models directly in the time domain without the need to apply any extra conversions. A set of measured electromagnetic fields associated with an inclined lightning channel from a triggered lightning experiment is used to evaluate the proposed field expressions. The results indicate that the peak of the electromagnetic fields is dependent on the channel angle, the observation point angle as well as the value of the ground reflection factor due to the difference between channel and ground impedances. Likewise, the effect of the channel parameters and the ground reflection on the values of the electromagnetic fields is considered and the results are discussed accordingly.