Finite element computation of corona around monopolar transmission lines

This paper presents an iterative finite element technique for the analysis of monopolar ionized field in transmission line conductor to plane configurations. One of the main underlying assumptions adopted in the literature, namely the constant ion mobility, is waived in a simple way. The impact of waiving this assumption on the computed corona current, ground plane current density and electric field profiles is investigated. It has been found that the present calculated corona current, the ground plane current density and electric field profiles, which assumed variable ion mobility, agreed well with those measured experimentally for laboratory and full scale models and are less than those obtained when assuming constant ion mobility. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.