Approximate Calculation and Feature Analysis of Electric Field in Space by Thunderclouds

Abstract

The calculation of electric field in space excited by thunderclouds is an important basis for lightning warning and protection. In numerical calculation of the electromagnetic field, it is often necessary to perform multiple loop nesting calculations on several triple integrals, which consume a lot of computing resources. In order to shorten the calculation time and improve the calculation efficiency, the electric field excited by the charged thunderclouds in space is theoretically derived with the analytical method by the thundercloud cylindrical charge pile model and based on the electrostatic field theory. The complex integrand function is approximated, so that the analytic expression of electric field in space is obtained in this paper. Through simulation and comparison, it is found that the approximate solution and the exact solution are similar in size, the change trend is the same, and the approximate analytical expression can be used for the approximate calculation of the electric field in a short range. Under certain conditions, the approximate solution can be converted into an accurate solution, which can be used for the accurate calculation of the electric field. Approximate calculation not only simplifies theoretical derivation but also improves calculation efficiency. The calculation time has been shortened from tens of hours to less than one second by using different calculation methods, which is a difference of 7 orders of magnitude. With approximate analytical expression, the electric field excited by charge pile with typical structures in thunderclouds in space is calculated and the characteristics of that are analyzed in this paper. For lightning protection of mobile targets, approximate calculation is of great significance in shortening the lightning warning time and enhancing the protection effect.