The paper comprises a new systematic approach to determine the critical ambient field needed for positive streamer propagation in nonuniform field gaps. It is shown that such critical streamer penetration field is a function of the basic value previously established for uniform field gaps and the degree of ambient field nonuniformity. The latter quantity is defined by the ratio of the maximum to mean ambient electric fields along the streamer propagation path, which can be determined either analytically or by charge simulation. Such functional dependence of the critical streamer penetration gradient on field nonuniformity has been determined for different rod topologies of rod-plane gap as well as for single and bundle conductor plane gaps. The model is used to determine critical streamer penetration fields and streamer lengths under different impulse voltage levels for different gap configurations and for a tall ground structure exposed to ambient impulse field. The findings of this method are compared to available experimental results and the agreement is found satisfactory.

中文翻译：

---

评估脉冲电压下长气隙正流注穿透的新方法

该论文包括一种新的系统方法，用于确定非均匀场间隙中正流光传播所需的临界环境场。结果表明，这种临界流注穿透场是先前为均匀场间隙建立的基本值和环境场不均匀程度的函数。后一个量由沿拖缆传播路径的最大环境电场与平均环境电场之比定义，可以通过分析或电荷模拟来确定。对于杆平面间隙的不同杆拓扑以及单导体平面间隙和束导体平面间隙，已经确定了临界流注穿透梯度对场不均匀性的这种函数依赖性。该模型用于确定不同间隙配置和暴露于环境脉冲场的高大地面结构在不同脉冲电压水平下的临界拖缆穿透场和拖缆长度。将该方法的结果与可用的实验结果进行比较，发现一致性令人满意。