DC-driven streamer coronas in wind

Recent numerical studies have reported on the influence of wind on streamer development, but experimental studies are lacking. The disparity between typical streamer speeds and realistic wind speeds means that wind has little influence at the timescales of streamer propagation, but it will impact the behavior of the discharge at the longer timescales of ion motion. This will impact the self-pulsating behavior of the discharge under DC conditions. In this contribution we present a wind tunnel study of DC-driven positive streamer coronas in a tip-to-plate configuration and exposed to lateral winds (relative to the needle orientation) of up to 30 m/s. The experimental data is presented in terms of statistical properties of the discharge, inferred from high resolution, large sample-size electrical waveforms and synchronized imaging. The measurements are interpreted from the viewpoint of enhanced charge transport in wind using an analytical model. The results from this work have implications in problems related to atmospheric electricity (e.g., lightning attachment to wind turbines, p-static wick efficiency, EMI) as well as plasma flow reactors.