Evaluation of Rocket Triggered Lightning for Research and Development.

Abstract

The feasibility of using rocket-triggered lightning as a research and development tool for testing hardware is investigated. Previous experimental work in the area is examined and used as the foundation for the experiments in this thesis to establish the significant factors of a successful lightning-triggering station. Using a point charge model, computer simulations were performed to determine the most probable locations of the charge centers associated with the triggered discharge. Five electric field records obtained from field mills were used to perform this simulation. A full scale test technique configuration is proposed for subjecting representative Air Force subsystems and components to the lightning threat. A conclusion is drawn that such a system is feasible at Mt. Baldy, New Mexico with minor augmentations of the existing facilities of the Langmuir laboratory. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 1981
Accession Number
ADA100548

Entities

People

  • Jack R. Lippert

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Sensors
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aeronautical Laboratories
  • Aerospace Craft
  • Atmospheric Electricity
  • Cameras
  • Computer Programs
  • Data Acquisition
  • Electric Fields
  • Electricity
  • Electromagnetic Fields
  • Electromagnetic Properties
  • Lightning
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Static Electricity
  • Tape Recording
  • Thunderstorms
  • Video Tape Recording
  • Video Tapes

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerospace Test and Evaluation
  • Atmospheric Science/Meteorology
  • Computational Modeling and Simulation