Engineering topics

Brantley, R. D.

Publications and source records attributed to Brantley, R. D..

5 records

NASA NTRS1979

Characterization of lightning return stroke electric and magnetic fields from simultaneous two-station measurements

The paper presents a characterization of Florida lightning return stroke electric and magnetic fields derived from simultaneous measurements of the fields at two separate stations, one station being within 15 km of the lightning, the other at either about 50 or 200 km from the lightning. Also presented are: (1) examples of correlated wave forms, (2) typical first and subsequent stroke wave forms over the distance range 1.0-200 km, and (3) the following statistical data from which the typical wave forms were derived: for electric field, rise time, initial peak value, ramp starting time, ramp slope, value at 170 microsec, ratio of value at 170 microsec to initial peak, zero-crossing time for 50 and 200 km wave forms; for magnetic fields, time of hump following initial peak, ratio of hump value to initial peak value, zero-crossing time for 50 and 200 km wave forms. Return stroke electric and magnetic field characteristics appear to be independent of location in Florida.

Lin, Y. T.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Electric field statistics for close lightning return strokes near Gainesville, Florida

The salient properties of the electric field intensity from first and subsequent lightning return strokes in the 0-25 km distance range near Gainesville, Fla., are presented, including electric field wave shape versus distance, initial peak rise time versus distance, rise time histograms, initial peak magnitude versus distance, normalized (to 100 km) initial peak magnitude histograms, normalized initial peak magnitude versus rise time, ramp starting time versus distance, and field at 170 microsec versus distance. The mean normalized initial peak field for first return strokes was 9.9 V/m and for subsequent strokes, 5.7 V/m. The maximum measured values of normalized initial peak field were about 30 V/m. The largest field recorded at 170 microsec was about 25 kV/m generated by a first stroke within 0.5 km. Return strokes were found to lower a typical charge of the order of 1 C in 170 microsec.

Tiller, J. A.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Test of the principle of operation of a wideband magnetic direction finder for lightning return strokes

The principle of operation of a wideband crossed-loop magnetic-field direction finder is studied by comparing the bearing determined from the NS and EW magnetic fields at various times up to 155 microsec after return stroke initiation with the TV-determined lightning channel base direction. For 40 lightning strokes in the 3 to 12 km range, the difference between the bearings found from magnetic fields sampled at times between 1 and 10 microsec and the TV channel-base data has a standard deviation of 3-4 deg. Included in this standard deviation is a 2-3 deg measurement error. For fields sampled at progressively later times, both the mean and the standard deviation of the difference between the direction-finder bearing and the TV bearing increase. Near 150 microsec, means are about 35 deg and standard deviations about 60 deg. The physical reasons for the late-time inaccuracies in the wideband direction finder and the occurrence of these effects in narrow-band VLF direction finders are considered.

Herrman, B. D.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Lightning properties in Florida thunderstorms from video tape records

From video-tape recordings of lightning flashes to ground in convective daytime storms at the NASA Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and near Ocala, Florida, statistical data are presented for the flash-time duration, the number of strokes per flash, the time between all strokes, and the time between strokes having spatially separate channels. A daytime video tape 'photograph' of a stepped leader is reproduced. Finally, statistical data are presented for 13 long horizontal lightning discharges occurring along a line of nocturnal thunderstorms near Gainesville, Florida. These discharges all propagated horizontally near the freezing level (4.5 km) at an apparent average velocity between 5600 and 11,000 m/s for a typical distance of 2 to 3 km. Eleven of the 13 horizontal discharges were preceded by or occurred within 16.7 ms of a glow in the cloud roughly 0.5 km above the horizontal channel.

Brantley, R. D.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Correlated electric and magnetic fields from lightning return strokes

The first broad band (1 kHz to 5 mHz) correlated measurements of electric and magnetic fields from close lightning return strokes are presented. Sample wave forms are shown for the distance range 2-200 km. The transmission line return stroke model is used to find a typical current wave shape and return stroke velocity from the experimental data, and theoretical curves are given of electric and magnetic field as a function of time for 1, 5, 10, and 100 km by using this typical current and velocity.

Uman, M. A.↗