A numerical modelling of an electric arc and its interaction with the anode: Part I. The two-dimensional model

Abstract

A two-dimensional numerical model of the interaction between an electric arc and a solid anode of different types is presented in this study. The CFD commercial code FLUENT is used to model the plasma flow and the solid anode domain. Quantities such as the velocities or the temperature are presented, and the energy transfer components between the plasma and the anode are quantified. Comparisons of the calculated results with the available experimental data in the literature show that the model predictions are in good agreement. In the case of argon gas and a copper anode, with the distance between the two electrodes 10 mm, the maximum temperature near the cathode tip is 21 000 K for a current of I = 200 A. For the same configuration, the maximum of the current density in the copper electrode is found to be −2.5 × 106 A m−2. The electrical flux is the main component of the transferred flux on the anode. Once validated, our model is applied to other theoretical and experimental configurations and allows us to study several parameters when attention is focused on the influence of metal vapour from the vaporization of the anode or the current-carrying path in the electrode on the arc behaviour. According to the current-carrying path in the anode, the current density distribution is affected in the material and its surface.

Formation of self-organized anode patterns in arc discharge simulations

“…Table 6 shows the values of J qmax and r cath for the values of I tot simulated (i.e., from 100 to 300 [A] in intervals of 25 [A]). A value of n cath = 4 has been used for all J qcath profiles, whereas a value of n cath = 1 has been traditionally used for sharply conical cathodes or truncated two-dimensional computational domains (e.g., [29,68,76] varies approximately linearly with I tot ; this functional dependency produces the expected behavior of the cathode jet [28], as described in the following section. T from Hsu and Pfender [29] (left).…”

A Multiphysics Simulation Approach for Efficient Modeling of Lightning Strike Tests on Aircraft Structures

“…Herein the lightning strike electric arc model is based on the preceding Gas Tungsten Arc (GTA) models available in the literature [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. In general the preceding plasma modelling has assumed the thermal plasma to be in local thermodynamic equilibrium.…”

“…These models take into account the discontinuity phenomena between the anode and the arc-plasma interface. The Lago and Gonzalez et al models [22,23] did not include the cathode region in their simulations, but developed a model to simulate the effect of metal vapour in the plasma column combined to a moving welding torch. The plasma models of Tanaka and Lowke summarized in [25,26] are the most complete, based on the Sansonnens et al model [27], they also include the cathode and anode regions with weld pool formation, and the boundary conditions are directly applied at the external borders with no assumption on the cathode surface temperature.…”

Simulation of electric arc with refractory cathode and evaporating anode

“…Such idealization did not incorporate any conditions of running of real welding arcs, and required further improvement of mathematical models of the arc, in order to allow for a number of additional physical factors, related to multicomponent nature of arc plasma. Publications devoted to allowing for evaporation of anode material in simulation of nonconsumableelectrode welding arc, appeared in the world scientific literature comparatively recently [11][12][13]. When describing diffusion of ionized metal vapour in arc plasma, however, these works do not differentiate between vapour atoms and ions, having diffusion coefficients, differing significantly by their magnitude [1].…”