1520
2, MARCH 1997
Numerical Modeling of Lightning Based on
the Traveling Wave Equations
Chang-Chou Hwang
Department of Electrical Engineering, Feng Chia University
100 Wenhwa Road, Seatwen, Taichung,Taiwan,R.O.C.
Abstract-In this paper a traveling wave model for describing
the lightning stroke i s developed. Finite clement method is used
to derive the element equations and one -dimensional linear
elements are used to discretize the field region. The implicit
Newmark time integration algorithm is employed to obtain the
recurrence formulas for the solution of field variables at each
time step. Numerical examples arc included and illustrated.
I. INTRODUCTION
Lightning can be defined as a transient, high-current
electric discharge which is very fast phenomenon. For many
years, a lot of studies have been made on this subject. Some
have been concerned simply with collecting statistics[ 11,
some with making measurements[2], and others have tried to
probe more deeply into the physical nature of the problems[3].
From their efforts we can understand more about this
mysterious process. It is now generally accepted that a typical
lightning stroke begins with the propagation of a negatively
charged channel, called a stepped leader, from cloud to the
ground. But before this downward leader reaches the ground,
an upward leader begins to proceed from the ground and
meets the downward-moving leader at the junction point.
Once the stepped leader has established a connection to earth,
the so-called return stroke moves swiftly up the ionized
channel prepared by the stepped leader like a traveling wave
on a high-voltage transmission line and a heavy current
occurs[4],[5]. However, the physical models derived from the
experimental data or fiom the information determined directly
from experimental data have often been obtained more on the
basis of intuition than on the basis of detailed quantitative
analysis[6]. In this paper a traveling-wave model is used to
describe the lightning stroke behavior [7], and then the fmite
element method is employed to solve it. An analysis such as
this requires the determination of the time-dependent spatial
distributions of an unknown field variable. It is usual to use
the partial discretization procedure which replaces the
original partial differential equation by a system of second-
order ordinary differential equations[8]. This set can be
solved by an implicit time integration method, the Newmark
alogrithm[9]. Once we have obtained the voltage distribution
in terms of both time and space, we can then determine the
current waveform.
Manuscript received March 17,1996
0018-9464/97$10.00 0 1997 IEEE
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 33, NO.
11. A TRAVELING-WAVE MODEL
Basically, lightning stroke is an electromagnetic wave and
can be determined by the use of traveling wave equations[7].
Suppose the discharge channel within a thundercloud is fully
developed, then it will behave like the spark discharge
between two flat plates forming a condenser that is in effect
shorted out by a central conductor. Hence, a useful concept is
to think of the cloud and earth as forming a vast capacitor
which is being discharged by the stroke[5],[7]. Propagation of
electromagnetic wave along the path can be treated as a
circuit problem[7], and voltage V(x,t) and current i(x,tj
satisfy the equation set (1)
(14
- ai(x,t> = C a v ( x , t > + GV ( g ) (Ib)
dX dt
Where R, G, L, and C represent the per unit length resistance,
conductance, inductance, and capacitance of the path
respectively.
Assume that the energy lose due to the conductance term is
small compared to the other equations, and (1 a) and (1b) are
combined, then both voltage wave and current wave satisfy
the following hyperbolic equation
We can see that the frst term on the right-hand side
represents the energy dissipation associated with the wave
propagation process, and the second term represents the
inertia of the time-dependent motion. For the problem
statement to be complete, the boundary and initial conditions
need to be specified. Let us consider the voltage wave
equation of (2). The voltage at the ground is assumed to be
zero while the current at the cloud is assumed to be a small
constant value which is taken to be zero[7]. Hence, the
boundary conditions are
V ( 0 ,t ) = 0 ( 3a)
i(h,t) = 0 (3b)
At t=O, the voltage distribution is assumed to be a known
constant value except at the ground where it is zero. Hence
the initial condition are
V(x,O)= vo (4a)
a ( x , 0 ) / dt = 0 (4b)
 1521

Once the voltage distribution has been solved, the solution of

current involves the integration of (lb) using (3b) as an initial
condition.
111. FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION

Several approaches can be used to construct finite element

equation for (2). We consider the problem at one instant of
It is evident that two initial conditions { V } and { $ }

time and we assume that the time derivatives such as; and;'
at that instant of time are functions of spatial coordinates
only[S]. By employing the standard finite element procedures
[9] we get ordinary differential equations of the form
[MI{;'} + [ 0 l { h+ [ K I { V } = (0)
Where
and the whole matrix can be found in [9].
IV. SOLVING TIME-DEPENDENT EQUATIONS
The finite element solution of the voltage wave equation (2)
reduces ultimately to solve the set of differential equations (5).
There are several methods for numerically solving (5). In this
paper we use the Newmark beta method in time domain to
generate a numerical solution [ 101.
The Newmark beta equations for the voltage and its
+
derivative at time t A t are
r .. ..
{V),+A, = {VI, + { v } r A t + [ ( 1 - P ) { Q } t + P { V ) , + A , ] A/~2~
where a and p are parameters that control the stability and Fig.l(a), (b), and (c) show the cloud voltages versus time for
accuracy of the method. We obtain the recurrence formula by three channel resistances of each cloud height. It is seen that
are known and ';{ } can be obtained in terms of {V}
and {G} fi-om (5). In (9), {V } on the left-hand side
is unknown and all the terms on the right-hand side are known,
hence (9) represents the recurrence formula for solving
(51 {V} at the end of a time step. Consequently, the
Newmark algorithm is implicit, and we must solve a set of
simultaneous equations at each time step. It is unconditionally
stable for a = 1 I 2 and p = 114, which means that we can
choose a time step without concern for computational
instability, but we must consider the effects of time step size
on solution accuracy. In this paper the time step is chosen
as A t s A x m ,where Ax is a spatial element length.
V. RESULTS
To illustrate and validate the method described above,
results of an example study are presented. Suppose we
represent the cloud and earth as a capacitor having parallel
plates of circular shape with a radius of lkm, and let
1
(6a) discharge channel be 20cm in diameter. Three heights of
cloud are considered. Table I shows the inductances and
capacitances for each case[5]. If the resistance of the channel
is greater than Z, then it would damp the discharge [7].

..
writing (5) at time t + ~t , the magnitude of voltage waveform is directly proportional to
the channel resistance. Fig.2(a), (b), and (c) show the cloud
voltage versus time for three cloud heights of each channel
From (6a), { } can be expressed as resistance. It is seen that the magnitude of voltage waveform
is directly_proportional
.. to the cloud height. It can be also seen
2 that the cloud voltage drops quickly in the first 15
{ V l r + b= ~ [ { v } , -+{VIt~ -t ($1, At - (1 - P){p>tAt2/ 21 (8) microseconds and then decreases slowly. Fig.3(a), (b), and (c)
PAt show the cloud currents versus time for three channel
Substituting (8) into (6b) we express ;{ f+L\I in terms of resistances of each cloud height. It is seen that the magnitude
of current waveform is inversely proportional to the channel
{v 1,+at and other vectors. Finally, substituting for resistance. Fig.4(a), (b), and (c) show the cloud current versus
..
{V 1 [ + A t and {v 1 '+At
time for three cloud heights of each channel resistance. It is
(7) permits us to write the seen that the current waveform is inversely proportional to the
recurrence formula in telXlS O f LUl effective stiffness and load ,-loud height. It be also Seen that the cloud rises
vector, abruptly to its maximum value but decays slowly[5],[7]. In
[H]{V}I + AI = { R } I + Af (9) the simulation we divide the problem, for the cloud height of
Where the effective stiffness matrix is lOOOm case into 120 elements with a time step of 1.0
(loa) microsecond which is less than A r a =32.4 microseconds.
[ffl=[Kl+~r~I+&rMl
and the effective load vector is TABLE I. VALUES OF INDUCTANCE AND CAPACITANCE
1522

TABLE 1. VALUES OF INDUCTANCE AND CAPACITANCE

Height(x) 250 m 500 m 1000 m

Inductance(L) 1.85 mH 2.02 mH 2.18 mH
Capacitance(C) 27.80pF 13.90 pF 6.95 pF
",2 516 762 1120

1 .oo

0 00 20 00 40 00 60 0 0 60 00 100 00
Time m microsecond

0 80 (a) Channel resistance is 2000 R

1-00

4
k
'i!
0.80

o-60

0 40
0.60

0.20
0.40
0 00 20 00 40 00 60 00 80 0 0 1 0 0 00
Time in microsecond

(a) Cloud height is 250 m

0.20
1 .oo

1.00
0 80

0.80
0.60

0 60
0.40

0.40
0.20
0 00 20 00 40 00 6 0 00 80 00 100 00
Time III microsecond

(b) Cloud height is 500 m 0.20

1.00

B 0.80

0.60

0.40

0.20

0 00 2 0 00 40 00 60 00 80 00 3 0 0 00
Time III microsecond
0.00
(c) Cloud height is 1000 m
Fig.1 Cloud voltages vs time for three channel resistances
 1523

1 .oo

0.80

0.60

0.40

0.20

0.00
0.00 20 00 40.00 60.00 80.00 100.00 0 00 20 00 40 00 60 00 80 00 100 00
Time in microsecond Time in microsecond
(b) Cloud height is 500 m (c) Channel resistance is 5000 $2
1 .oo
Fig.4 Cloud currents vs time for three cloud heights

0 80
VI. CONCLUSIONS

0.60 The traveling wave equation for modeling the lightning

stroke has been presented. Finite element .method and the
0.40 Newmark beta scheme are used to generate a numerical
solution. The results obtained are reasonable. It is to be
0.20
expected that the work will be further extended to be of
practical use in the study of the lightning stroke.
0.00
0 00 20 00 40 00 60 00 80 00 1 0 0 00 REFERENCES
Time Ln mlerosecond

(c) Cloud height is 1000 m

K. Berger, “Novel Observations on lightning Discharges:Results of
Fig.3 Cloud currents vs time for three channel resistances
1 00 Research on Mount San Salvatore,” J. Franklin Inst., 283, pp.478-525,
1967.
0 80 P. Willianms and M. Brook, “Magnetic Measurement of
Thunderstorm Currents, pt. 1, Continuing Currents in Lightning,”
J.Geophys. Res.,68, pp.3234-3247, 1963
0 60
M. Brook, N. Kitagawa and E. J. Workman, “Quantitative Study of
Strokes and Continuing Currents in Lightning Discharges to ground,”
0 40
J. Geophys. Res.,67,pp649-659,1962.
K. Berge, “Lightning Surges,” Proceedings of Brown Boveri,
0 20
Symposium on Surges in High- Voltage Networks, Baden, Switzerland,
Plenum Press, pp.25-62, Sep. 1979.
0 00 N. Greenwood, Electrical Transients in Power Systems, 2nd Ed., John
0.00 20.00 40.00 60.00 80.00 100.00
Time in microsecond Wiley&Sons, New York, 1991.
(a) Channel resistance is 2000 $2 M. A. Uman, “Natural Lightning,” IEEE Trans. IA, vo1.30, No.3,
1 .oo
pp785-790, May/June 1994.
R. Rudecberg, Electrical Shock Wave in Power Systems, Harvard
0.80
University Press, Cam. Mass., 1968.
V. Kantorovitch, V. I. Krylov, Approximation Methods of Higher
0.60 Analysis, Interscience, New York, 1964.
C. Zienkiewicz, The Finite Element Method, 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill,
0.40 New York, 1977.
M. Newmark, “A Method of Computation for Structure Dynamics,” J.
0.20
Eng. Mech. Div. ASCE, vol. 85, NO. EM3, pp.67-94, 1959.

0.00
0.00 20.00 40.00 60.00 80.00 100.00
Time in microsecond

(b)Channel resistance is 3000 Q