Upward Streamer Behaviour on ESE Lightning Rod Employing Field Electron Emission Model Under Lightning Impulse Voltage

In this paper, we investigate the upward streamer behavior on early streamer emission (ESE) lightning rod. In the case of ESE lightning rod, it is based on the concept of Inductance and conductance (L-C) resonant circuit to occur early corona discharge propagation. In other words, the upward streamer can be controlled by adjusting electron emission according to resonance conditions. In this paper, to analyze the possibility of upward streamer control according to electron emission under high electric field, Fowler-Nordheim equation was employed for the boundary condition on the surface of ESE lightning rod. To control the emitted electron from the surface of ESE lightning rod, the work function (ϕ
w
) of the aluminum material was controlled from 3.8 to 4.0 eV. The results revealed that the emitted electron density increases with decreasing work function of aluminum, it might be possible that the control of electron emission by resonance conditions could be having a larger protection radius Δ
$L$
than that of a conventional franklin lightning rod.