Simulation and Analysis of Initial Stages of Negative Discharges in Air for Needle-Plane Electrode Configuration

This paper presents a model for the initial stages of negative discharge in the atmospheric air under an extremely nonuniform field condition caused by a needle-plane electrode configuration. To model the dynamics of charged species, the drift-diffusion model is employed while taking into account the secondary electron emissions and addressing the mathematical challenges to solve the problem. Simulations are carried out in the COMSOL Multiphysics software. Analyses are performed mainly on the variations of the generation and loss rates of the charged species, their concentration evolution, and corresponding electric field distribution alterations.