Simulation of Negative and Positive Corona Discharges in Air for Investigation of Electromagnetic Waves Propagation

Corona discharge, as one of the partial discharge (PD) modes, emits electromagnetic (EM) waves in the ultrahigh frequency (UHF) range. In order to study the behavior of the EM waves emitted from a PD source, a comprehensive PD source modeling method should be employed that takes into account the essential processes involved in the formation of that. In this article, a drift- and diffusion-based model is presented to simulate the corona discharges in the positive and negative voltages to investigate the differences between these two types of corona and their characteristics in terms of the EM waves’ propagation. This modeling tool includes ionization, attachment, and photoionization source terms as necessary phenomena to form the discharge. The results are analyzed for both types of coronas in the UHF range, and the differences between them are shown. Experimentally measured corona discharges using a high-frequency current transformers (HFCTs) and a monopole antenna probes are compared with the simulation current signals in the time and frequency domains, with promising results in terms of rise time and amplitude of the signal.