Computation of axial and radial development of discharges between plane parallel electrodes

The numerical method for computing the growth of ionisation currents in the presence of space charge has now been extended to cylindrically symmetrical discharges. A full description of the method of calculation is given, together with some preliminary results for the experimental conditions of Doran. The growth of the discharge is computed up to the end of the cathode-directed streamer, and predicts the same variation of total current and effective discharge radius that is observed experimentally.