Charge transport modelling in electron-beam irradiated dielectrics: a model for polyethylene

This paper proposes a numerical model for describing charge accumulation in electron-beam irradiated low density polyethylene. The model is bipolar, and based on a previous model dedicated to space charge accumulation in solid dielectrics under electrical stress. It encompasses the generation of positive and negative charges due to the electron beam and their transport in the insulation. A sensitivity analysis of the model to parameters specific to electron-beam irradiation is performed in order to understand the impact of each process on the space charge distribution. At last, a direct comparison between time dependent space charge distribution issued from the model and from measurements is performed. The transport parameters used for the simulations are the same as those optimized for transportation in polyethylene under an external electric field giving a robustness in the modelling approach because of the constraints on fitting parameters that must comply to a set of experimental results.