Return-Stroke Field Near the Air–Soil Interface With Realistic Soil

The return-stroke field generated by cloud-to-ground lightning is of primary concern in protection engineering. This field affects not only the electrical systems on and above the ground but also buried cables and other sensitive devices in the soil. In the literature, the field in the air due to return stroke has been thoroughly investigated. However, the assessment of the return-stroke field in the soil is relatively scarce. Measurement of the field in the soil is difficult to find, whereas most theoretical methods adopt oversimplified soil models and generalized return-stroke models, which do not consider any effect of soil parameters on current evolution. However, recent work has shown that soil's electrical parameters can significantly affect the return-stroke evolution. In light of this, it was deemed necessary to investigate the role of soil's electrical parameters on the return-stroke field, both in the air and the soil, with a realistic soil model, including soil ionization and frequency-dependent soil parameters. This work primarily focuses on the electric field produced by the return stroke within a radial distance of 500 m from the channel.