An Investigation On Modelling And Simulation Of Real Lightning Strikes

Volume 12 Issue 4 April - June 2019

Research Paper

An Investigation On Modelling And Simulation Of Real Lightning Strikes

Hilal Sen*, Cengiz Polat Uzunoglu**, Aysel Ersoy Yilmaz***

*-***Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, Turkey.

Sen , H., Uzunoglu, C., P., & Yilmaz, A., E. (2019). An Investigation On Modelling And Simulation Of Real Lightning Strikes. i-manager’s Journal on Electrical Engineering, 12(4), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.26634/jee.12.4.15833

Abstract

Lightning strikes have great importance in balancing electron distributions of our earth. In this study, it is aimed to model lightning strikes which occur in nature by using two-dimensional investigation. For this purpose, firstly, lightning is simulated in computer environment by using finite element method at different matrix sizes. In the next step a fractal analysis method is used to determine the similarity of the model to the actual lightning. In order to simulate and predict possible pattern of a real lightning the lightning paths investigated and nature of the strike is simulated. According to the simulation results, the fractal dimension averages of the shapes are obtained as 1.32 by using the MATLAB program. On the other hand, real lightning images are processed and average fractal dimension is calculated as 1.23. This results have verified that simulation results and real images results are very close in terms of fractal dimensions. Accordingly, the fractal irregularity of the simulated shapes is slightly more than the actual lightning.