Volt-time characteristics of short air gaps under nonstandard lightning voltage waves

The volt-time characteristics of 5-cm long rod-plane and rod-rod air gaps were experimentally determined with five different waveshapes of the applied impulse voltage. The front time of the waves was varied from 25 ns to 10 /spl mu/s, and the time to half value was varied from 0.5 ps to 100 ps. The volt-time characteristics were also checked analytically using the concept of disruptive effect. The parameters for the disruptive effect were experimentally determined.