Spark Discharge is a first-of-its-kind text, providing a comprehensive and systematic description of the spark breakdown of long gas gaps. It discusses the nature of a long spark, physical peculiarities of relevant gas discharge processes, methods and results of experimental studies, and analytical and numerical models. The most important applications in high-voltage engineering are covered in a single volume.
    The straightforward presentation of complicated materials, the deep insight into the nature of the processes, and the simplified mathematical descriptions of the phenomena, make Spark Discharge an excellent textbook for students and an indispensable reference for researchers, physicists, and engineers.

    1 The Concepts of Spark, Corona, and Breakdown
    Lightning and Long Spark Leaders
    Corona and Spark Discharges
    Avalanche and Streamer Mechanisms of Gas Breakdown
    What Is a Breakdown?
    2 Basic Information on Processes in Ionized Gases
    Drift and Diffusion of Electrons and Ions
    Molecular Ionization and Excitation
    Electron Loss and Liberation
    Electron and Ion Gases in Electric Fields
    Breakdown by Avalanche Multiplcation
    Induced Charge and Circuit Current
    Strongly Ionized Equilibrium Plasma
    Equilibrium Plasma Arc with Current
    3 Basic Processes in Spark Breakdown
    Streamer as an Ionization Wave
    Electrical Properties of a Plasma Channel
    Gas Temperature and Energy Balance
    Initial Ionization Mechanisms
    The Streamer Inception
    Is a Streamer Breakdown Possible?
    An Ionization Wave in Spark Breakdown
    4 Experimental Techniques
    High Voltage Sources
    Voltage Measurement
    Current Measurement
    Current Data Analysis
    Gap Charge Measurement
    Electric Field Measurement
    Optical Registration of Discharge
    Synchronization
    Gap Field Data: Theory and Reality
    5 Long Streamers
    Phenomenology and Dimensions
    Streamer Velocity
    Streamer Channel Field
    Current and Charge Data Analysis
    Numerical Simulation
    The Ionization Expansion Model
    6 The Leader Process
    General Description
    Leader Velocity Measurement
    Current and Charge Measurement
    Channel and Streamer Zone Fields
    Leader Channel Expansion
    Comparison of Leader and Streamer Parameters
    Streamer Zone and Cover Charges
    The Origin of Leader Current
    Streamer-Leader Transition
    Leader Support Voltage
    The Leader Family
    7 Electrical Strength of Long Gaps
    A Weakly Nonuniform Gap
    A Strongly Nonuniform Gap
    The Time-Voltage Characteristic
    Breakdown Voltage Deviation
    A Supplement
    References
    Index

    Biography

    YuriP. Raizer