Publications

Surface interactions involved in flashover with high density electronegative gases

Warne, Larry K.; Jorgenson, Roy E.; Lehr, J.M.

This report examines the interactions involved with flashover along a surface in high density electronegative gases. The focus is on fast ionization processes rather than the later time ionic drift or thermalization of the discharge. A kinetic simulation of the gas and surface is used to examine electron multiplication and includes gas collision, excitation and ionization, and attachment processes, gas photoionization and surface photoemission processes, as well as surface attachment. These rates are then used in a 1.5D fluid ionization wave (streamer) model to study streamer propagation with and without the surface in air and in SF6. The 1.5D model therefore includes rates for all these processes. To get a better estimate for the behavior of the radius we have studied radial expansion of the streamer in air and in SF6. The focus of the modeling is on voltage and field level changes (with and without a surface) rather than secondary effects, such as, velocities or changes in discharge path. An experiment has been set up to carry out measurements of threshold voltages, streamer velocities, and other discharge characteristics. This setup includes both electrical and photographic diagnostics (streak and framing cameras). We have observed little change in critical field levels (where avalanche multiplication sets in) in the gas alone versus with the surface. Comparisons between model calculations and experimental measurements are in agreement with this. We have examined streamer sustaining fields (field which maintains ionization wave propagation) in the gas and on the surface. Agreement of the gas levels with available literature is good and agreement between experiment and calculation is good also. Model calculations do not indicate much difference between the gas alone versus the surface levels. Experiments have identified differences in velocity between streamers on the surface and in the gas alone (the surface values being larger).