Computing transient electromagnetic fields radiated from lightning

Abstract

The effect of lightning on airborne electronic equipment and powerlines can be severe and a study requires the solution of electromagnetic fields radiated by the lightning flash. We model the return stroke by simple dipolelike line elements with resident charges prior to the return stroke. The resulting computations are from simple closed-form expressions and permit the modeling of branched lightning. For the first time, computations bear out the observed bipolar electric fields very near the flash.