Simulation of DC surface flashover of epoxy composites in compressed nitrogen

To date, numerical simulation techniques for surface flashover are still under development. In this work, a DC surface flashover numerical simulation model is constructed based on a gas-solid coupling surface flashover theoretical model with a multilayered structure at the gas-solid interface. Considering the effects of solid, gas, and gas-solid interaction on surface flashover, bipolar charge transport in the solid surface layer, collision ionization in the gas phase layer, secondary electron emission, and gas adsorption in the gas surface layer are combined to calculate the surface flashover voltage. By initializing model parameters, surface charge transport dependent dc surface flashover voltages of epoxy composites in compressed nitrogen are calculated. The results indicate that the surface flashover voltage increases with surface deep trap level, deep trap density, shallow trap density, and carrier mobility; however, surface flashover voltage decreases with surface shallow trap level and surface charge density. To further investigate the effects of surface trap on surface flashover, a U-shaped curve is constructed to describe the relationship between surface flashover voltage and surface trap level by the simulation method which shows good agreement with experimental results. The simulation indicates surface flashover voltage of epoxy composites is influenced by surface deep and shallow traps in the solid surface layer-shallow traps mainly influence surface charge dissipation, while deep traps mainly influence electron emission on the solid surface. The value of P-tr/P-de is crucial for the dominating surface trap in surface flashover.

Automated summary

Numerical simulation techniques for surface flashover are still being developed, and a DC surface flashover model is constructed based on a gas-solid coupling model. The model considers the effects of solid, gas, and gas-solid interaction on surface flashover, showing that the surface flashover voltage is influenced by surface trap levels in the solid surface layer. Results suggest that surface deep and shallow traps play different roles in surface charge dissipation and electron emission during surface flashover.