Some Studies on Fractal Geometry of Lightning

Most electromagnetic models used for analysis of lightning assume a straight path for the return stroke in order to keep the computations simple. However, many observations have revealed that the return stroke follows a tortuous path. This paper investigates applicability of fractal geometry to lightning return stroke so that the jaggedness of the path can be accounted in the model. The approach involves applying an image-processing algorithm to trace the tortuous path and then use box-counting method for obtaining the fractal dimension of the curve. Results indicate fairly good fractal trend for the images of lightning used in the investigation.