Surface arcing of insulators due to bentonite contamination

Impulse, alternating and direct voltage tests together with optical observations have been done under clean and polluted surface conditions with respect to bentonite, which is treated as a pollutant. The insulator materials tested were polymethyl methacrylate and polythene. Bentonite pollution may affect several surface flashover characteristics such as voltage at breakdown and 50% breakdown voltage under negative lightning impulse (1.2/50 μs) and the time to breakdown under wet condition for both negative and positive impulse voltage. There are four types of paths taken by the discharge channels, based on which the degree of degradation of the material surface may vary.     

Triggering of high voltage discharge by femtosecond laser filaments on different wavelengths

The triggering and guiding of high voltage discharge by plasma filaments generated by 400 nm and 800 nm femtosecond laser were studied experimentally. The detailed diagnostics for characteristics of filaments, such as amount of free electrons, diameter and electron density, were performed using sonographic method, fluorescence imaging and resistivity measurement. A significant reduction of the breakdown voltage threshold due to the pre-ionization of the air gap by laser pulse filaments was observed. It is shown that the 400 nm laser pulses demonstrated stronger triggering ability than 800 nm laser pulse under same pulse energy. This behavior of 400 nm femtosecond pulse is connected to the rich population of highly excited particles in filaments.     

Gamma-ray emission from thunderstorm discharges

Fine features of gamma-ray radiation registered during a thunderstorm at Tien-Shan Mountain Cosmic Ray Station are presented. Long duration (100-600 ms) gamma-ray bursts are found. They are for the first time identified with atmospheric discharges (lighting). Gamma-ray emission lasts all the time of the discharge and is extremely non-uniform consisting of numerous flashes. Its peak intensity in the flashes exceeds the gamma-ray background up to two orders of magnitude. Exclusively strong altitude dependence of gamma radiation is found. The observation of gamma radiation at the height 4-8 km could serve as a new important method of atmospheric discharge processes investigation.     

依据光谱研究闪电回击通道核心的特征参数

闪电回击通道核心中的大电流及其强电磁辐射是引发多种雷电灾害的主要根源。随着现代科技的飞速发展,闪电防护工作显得越为重要。为了完善闪电防护系统,需要从描述闪电回击通道核心的特征参数入手深入研究闪电通道形成和发展过程的微观物理机制。截至目前,光谱观测是获取闪电通道核心特征参数的最佳手段。2015年夏天在青海高原地区的野外试验中,利用由高速摄像机作为记录系统组装的无狭缝光栅摄谱仪,结合快天线地面电场测量仪,记录到一次包括四个回击的云地闪电放电过程的光谱以及与之同步的快电场变化信息。依据光谱,结合等离子体理论计算得到闪电回击通道核心的电导率。在此基础上,应用闪电电动力学模型计算了闪电回击速度、峰值电流、贯穿通道核心的电磁场以及通道核心单位长度的峰值功率等特征参数。结果表明,回击速度在(1.2～2.3)×108 m·s-1的范围内;贯穿回击通道核心的轴向电场、径向电场和磁感应强度的最大值分别在(1.42～1.74)×105 V·m-1,(8.22～9.99)×108 V·m-1和(1.51～2.83) T的范围内。当闪电回击的峰值电流在(7.52～24.05) kA的范围内时,回击通道核心的峰值功率在(0.63～1.92)×109 W·m-1的范围内。另外,分析了电导率、起始电场峰值、回击速度和峰值电流与峰值功率之间的相关性,结果发现峰值电流和峰值功率具有良好的线性关系。研究结果可为探索闪电回击通道形成和发展过程的微观物理机制提供参考依据。     

Recoil leader formation and development

The existing interpretation in the lightning literature, based on field measurements, defines recoil leaders as negative leaders. However recoil leaders are floating conductors, and, based on this physical assumption, they should be defined as bipolar and bidirectional leaders. This physics-based assumption has never previously been verified experimentally. Such verification, reported in this paper, has been obtained from observations of branched upward positive leaders from a tall tower using a high-speed video system synchronized with electric and magnetic field change and luminosity measurements on the ground. The analysis of these observations clearly reveals the nature of recoil and dart leaders as bidirectional and bipolar electrodeless discharges that develop from a small region along a path of the decayed channels of a previous positive leader, or a positively charged return stroke of negative CG flashes.     

Experimental investigation and modeling of corona characteristics under lightning impulses

An experimental study is conducted on the corona characteristics under lightning impulses. The charge-voltage characteristics, i. e. the Q-U curves, are measured in a corona cage. The impulse waveshapes are varied to investigate their influence on the Q-U curves. Meanwhile, a corona model is proposed to compute the Q-U curves. The ionized zone is simplified as a cylindrosymmetric geometry and a one-dimensional subdivision is made in the radial direction. The Q-U curves can be given by performing an efficient computational procedure. The computed results are compared with the measured ones to check the validity of the model.     

一次人工触发闪电通道光谱结构分析

用无狭缝光谱仪获得了广东地区一次人工触发闪电首次回击过程的发射光谱,同时测量了回击电流峰值为18.3kA,回击持续时间为4.5ms。发现导线部分通道的发射谱线中存在407.5,419.0,425.3和517.9nm等激发能比较高的谱线,具有强闪电通道发射光谱的谱线结构,空气部分则具有弱闪电通道的谱线结构;导线部分与空气部分的基本谱线的相对强度差别较小,强闪电特征谱线相对强度相差非常大。通过对导线部分与空气部分谱线激发能等参数的分析,发现回击开始时,导线部分先导通道还未完全消失,回击脉冲电流对先导闪电通道等离子体进行了进一步激发,增加了等离子体的温度和密度,使得导线部分具有较高激发能的谱线被完全激发,相对于空气部分407.5,419.0,425.3和517.9nm等谱线的强度有较大程度的增加,造成导线部分通道与空气通道两种不同的光谱结构。通过光谱分析,获得了闪电通道不同部分的温度、电子密度等参数,发现导线部分通道的辐射特性不同于空气通道是导线部分通道发光亮度与电流相关性较差的原因。     

拉曼光谱3D成像技术确定黑色交叉笔画顺序的研究

在文书鉴定中,经常涉及对交叉笔画的检验,进而判断文件是否存在篡改、变造,此外,交叉笔画的检验也有助于判断笔迹个性特征、笔顺特征。本文采用拉曼光谱3D成像技术对多品牌不同型号的黑色圆珠笔和国产签字笔进行实验筛选,结合现有交叉笔画检验方法中如笔画连续性、收敛现象等特征,分析该方法判断交叉笔画书写顺序适用的各种情形:经赋色的笔画3D模型大量出现明显的“峰谷”异色现象,且表现一致,则能够得出准确结论;当现象明显存在但表现不一致或现象不明显时,需结合笔画连续性在3D模型中的特征分析判断,亦能得出正确结论,但准确率受数据处理的优劣及成像效果的影响较大;无法检测的情形,即无法获得有效拉曼光谱信息或无法区分两种油墨光谱信息时,该方法失效。笔者认为采用拉曼光谱3D成像技术在一定条件下能够对交叉笔画书写顺序进行相对客观、准确的判断,受鉴定人员主观影响较小,值得更加深入全面的研究,以便推广应用。     

The effective growth of gamma-ray background during a thunderstorm

We present here the results of gamma-ray emission intensity measurements made during thunderstorm. The gamma-ray intensity background (GRB) grows up in an order of magnitude in the active phase of a storm. This growth is shown to be directly connected with the growth of the thundercloud electric field. Besides, the fast changes of GRB (GRB-jumps) are revealed. GRB-jumps are shown to be determined by atmospheric discharges exactly, what mean the strong direct influence of the electric field in atmosphere on gamma-ray emission.