In this paper, the design of a self-developed EMP simulator with a 5 m height and an inverted conducting mono-cone antenna with a cone half-angle of 32° is introduced. The experimental region of the simulator is a circular area of 25 m in diameter around the cone vertex. Two feeding modes, feed-in over the ground and feed-in under the ground, are realized by two different high-voltage pulse sources. It can be concluded through radiation field testing that the radiation field waveform generated by the simulator has a rise time of 2–3 ns and a half-width of about 25 ns, meeting the specifications of the EMP experimental waveform in the IEC61000-2-9 standard. Meanwhile, the differences between the engineering implementation of the simulator and its ideal structure during the design process can lead to some distortion issues in the antenna radiation characteristics and the electromagnetic radiation field it generates. The radiation field waveform and the distribution of the EMP field generated by the simulator under different feeding methods, antenna wire quantities, antenna end processing methods, and different antenna resistive loading were studied, and the changes in the radiation field waveform and field distribution with different angles and distances of the monitoring point were analyzed. Based on the measurement results, the radiation characteristics of the antenna and the factors that affect the waveform of the field were studied and analyzed. Through the aforementioned work, a comprehensive understanding of the performance, radiation characteristics, and engineering factors affecting the electromagnetic environment generated by the simulator has been obtained. On this basis, the parameters of the antenna wire quantity, antenna end processing method, and test point position of the designed simulator were reconfirmed and optimized. In summary, this work has important reference significance for mastering the development technology of such simulators, understanding their antenna radiation characteristics, and conducting EMP-related assessments and effect experiments in the future.

The flashover process of the peaking capacitor in the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) simulator is studied based on theoretical analyses and experimental verification in this paper. There are deeper and denser ablation spots on the film surface near the inner core of the destroyed peaking capacitor, while the damage of the outer film is relatively slight, which indicates that the flashover current along the inner film is larger. Besides, the circuit simulation analyses show that the earlier the flashover occurs on the film of the peaking capacitor, the smaller the flashover current. The electric field on the non-conical surface of the capacitor is mainly occupied with normal component. Differently, for the conical surface, the electric field on the outer layer is dominated by the normal component and the parallel component is the main part on the inner layer. It is considered that the flashover on the conical surface originates from outer layers and develops gradually to the inner until the flashover penetrates through all layers. Furthermore, the images of flashover show that the flashover firstly occurs on the outermost layers and develops to the inner layers with the increase of the voltage. For such special structure of the peaking capacitor, the parallel component of electric field is more likely to facilitate the flashover under nanosecond pulse. These results may exhibit specific reference implication in the design of insulation for the peaking capacitor used in EMP simulator.