Bernd Bickel, Martin Wicke, Markus Gross: Adaptive Simulation of Electrical Discharges. Proceedings of Vision, Modeling and Visualization 2006, pp. 209-216.

Abstract:

We present an adaptive animation method for electrical discharges. Electric discharges can be simulated using the dielectric breakdown model. Regular discretization of the governing Laplace equation leads to huge equation systems, and the computational cost of solving the equations quickly becomes prohibitive at high resolutions, especially for simulations in 3D. In contrast, our method discretizes the Laplace equation on an adaptive octree, reducing the size of the problem significantly, and making simulations of high resolution 3D datasets and even 3D animations feasible. In order to enhance realism for lightning animations, we propose a particle simulation that animates the residual positive charge. Thus, interaction of electrical discharges with their surroundings can be simulated.

Bibtex: 

@inproceedings{bwg-asoed-06,
    author={Bernd Bickel and Martin Wicke and Markus Gross},
    title={Adaptive Simulation of Electric Discharges},
    booktitle={Proceedings of VMV '06},
    year={2006},
    pages={209--216}
}