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Numerical Simulations of High Current Arc in Circuit Breakers

by P. Huguenot and H. Kumar and V. Wheatley and R. Jeltsch and Ch. Schwab

(Report number 2008-15)

Abstract
In a gas circuit breaker, a high temperature and pressure arc dissipates the tremendous amount of energy generated by the fault current, hence it protects the other parts of the circuit. Simultaneously this energy has to be transfered away from the contacts in order to protect the components of the circuit breaker. In this paper we present a model based on the three dimensional axis-symmetric equations of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). This formulation allows us to study the behavior of the arc at very high currents. We generate numerical solutions in realistic, complex circuit breaker geometries, with real gas ($SF_6$) data using Runge-Kutta Discontinuous Galerkin (RKDG) methods. We study the various flow, thermal and electrical properties of the arc at high current.

Keywords: Make-Break Contacts, Arc phenomena, Magnetohydrodynamics

@Techreport{HKWJS08_79,
  author = {P. Huguenot and H. Kumar and V. Wheatley and R. Jeltsch and Ch. Schwab},
  title = {Numerical Simulations of High Current Arc in Circuit Breakers},
  institution = {Seminar for Applied Mathematics, ETH Z{\"u}rich},
  number = {2008-15},
  address = {Switzerland},
  url = {https://www.sam.math.ethz.ch/sam_reports/reports_final/reports2008/2008-15.pdf },
  year = {2008}
}

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