# Modeling streamer discharges as advancing imperfect conductors

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a one-dimensional macroscopic model of streamer discharges as advancing imperfect conductors, capturing the complex electrodynamic and chemical processes involved in long electrical discharges.

## Contribution

It presents a novel 1D model coupling electrodynamics and chemistry to simulate streamer evolution with finite conductivity and surface charge dynamics.

## Key findings

- Model captures key streamer properties affecting evolution
- Couples electric current with chemical reactions for conductivity
- Provides insights into streamer corona physics

## Abstract

A major obstacle for the understanding of long electrical discharges is the complex dynamics of streamer coronas, formed by many thin conducting filaments. Building macroscopic models for these filaments is one approach to attain a deeper knowledge of the discharge corona. Here we present a one-dimensional, macroscopic model of a propagating streamer channel. We represent the streamer as an advancing finite-conductivity channel with a surface charge density at its boundary. This charge evolves self-consistently due to the electric current that flows through the streamer body and within a thin layer at its surface. We couple this electrodynamic evolution with a field-dependent set of chemical reactions that determine the internal channel conductivity. With this one-dimensional model we investigate how key properties of a streamer affect the channel's evolution. The ultimate objective of our model is to construct realistic models of streamer coronas in order to understand better the physics of long electrical discharges.