Experimental study of leader tortuosity and velocity in long rod-plane air discharges

Long air gap electrical discharges are of particular interest among scientists and engineers working on high voltage techniques and lightning research. In the present work we report experimental results obtained while testing a long rod-plane air gap with positive switching-like voltage impulses to study the velocity and tortuous progression of the leader discharge. Voltage and current waveforms were recorded. Two still digital cameras were used to track the leader tortuous path. By using a fast digital camera, the leader temporal evolution was recorded and its propagation velocity was estimated. Three angles were used to describe the leader tortuous progression.