The effect of corona space charge produced at ground level on lightning attachment to tall structures

A numerical simulation is used to investigate the effect of the ion layer produced by corona at ground level on lightning attachment to tall slender structures. The properties of a non-stationary glow corona maintained near the tips of a multi-point ground system in a time-varying thundercloud electric field are studied numerically and analytically. The initiation of an upward leader is considered from the top of a grounded structure that is exposed to the electric field produced by a storm cloud, approaching downward leader and corona space charge created on the ground surface and near the structure top.