IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 21, No.

4; August 2014 1735

Pollution Flashover Calculation Model

Based on Characteristics of AC Partial Arc
on Top and Bottom Wet-polluted Dielectric Surfaces
Yawei Li, Hao Yang, Qiaogen Zhang, Xiaolei Yang, Xinzhe Yu
State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment,
School of Electrical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University,
Xi’an, 710049, PR China

and Jun Zhou

China Electric Power Research Institute
Beijing, 100192, PR China

ABSTRACT
A double-arc model, which considers the differences between characteristics of AC
partial arcs on top and bottom surfaces, was proposed for predicting the flashover
voltage of polluted insulators in this paper. The arc constants parameters, the arc re-
ignition criteria, as well as the radii of arc columns in the proposed model were
determined by measuring partial arcs on the top and bottom wet-polluted surfaces of a
triangular glass plate separately. A “ɉ” type glass model was made to investigate the
partial arc propagation process by using an ultra-high speed camera. It has been found
that the arc length increased linearly with leakage current amplitude, the ratio of arc
length increments on top and bottom surface was related to salt deposit density (SDD)
rather than leakage current. Based on above-mentioned researching results, the double
arc calculation model was established, and the calculated results were in good
agreement with the experimental results.
Index Terms — AC partial arc, top and bottom wet-polluted dielectric surfaces,
arc characteristic, pollution flashover calculation.

1 INTRODUCTION In the original work, Obenaus proposed two constants of A and

POLLUTION flashover of outdoor insulators is one of the major
problems for power systems in China and some other countries [1-
8]. Despite a lot of works have been done for studying the
mechanism and phenomena, pollution flashover faults still occur at
times. The demand of electric power is increasing with
technological advancements, so the damage caused by pollution
flashover will make heavy loss in the future [1]. Therefore,
researches about pollution flashover should be intensified.
Obenaus pioneered an electric circuit model of a partial arc in
series with a residual pollution layer resistance to present the arc
discharge on the polluted surface of insulators [9]. Based on this
classic model, many researchers have done a lot of experimental
and theoretical works on the mechanism of arc discharge on
polluted insulators [9, 10]. Agreements have been reached that
investigations of partial arc characteristics and residual pollution
layer resistance are of great importance for arc propagation
modeling.
Manuscript received on 29 August 2013, in final form 7 March 2014,
accepted 15 March 2014.
n to describe the V-I characteristic of partial arc [9]. Around these
two constants, many researchers obtained different values in
various circumstances, such as different voltage types, different
altitudes and so on [1-4]. Nevertheless, there was a big difference
in the values of A and n obtained by different researchers even in
the same experimental condition [11-15].
Rizk proposed that models based on Obenaus’ model should
take the AC partial arc re-ignition criteria into account [9]. Hence,
he deduced the re-ignition criteria by using the dielectric
breakdown theory [9]. Claverie and Pocheron measured the peak
re-ignition voltage as a function of the leakage current peak value
in the previous half-cycle [16]. Otherwise, Guan obtained the
“recovery” criteria by experiments and theoretical derivation [17].
These authors ignored the effects of surrounding circumstance
on the arc column, i.e., heat dissipating condition of arc column
resulted of floating off the surface. And those data used in
establishing the empirical expression were obtained when the arc
root was just reached the measuring electrode, at that moment the
arc column was in an unstable state. Moreover, these researchers
took it for granted that the arc in different position of the insulator
surface had the same V-I characteristic and re-ignition criteria.

DOI 10.1109/TDEI.2014.004291
1736 Y. Li et al.: Pollution Flashover Calculation Model Based on Characteristics of AC Partial Arc
The differences between cooling conditions of top and bottom
wet-polluted dielectric surfaces not only result in discrepancies of
V-I characteristic and re-ignition criteria of AC partial arcs, but
also the differences in arc column radius and arc propagation
process.
In this paper, arc characteristics including static V-I
characteristic, re-ignition criteria and column radii of partial
arcs on top surface (AT) and bottom surface (AB) were
investigated respectively. Meanwhile, the radius and the
length of partial arc mentioned above were obtained with
ultra-high speed camera. Based on the acquired results, a
mathematic model was established to calculate the flashover
voltage. It was found that the calculated results were in good
agreement with experimental data.
2 FACILITIES AND PROCEDURES
2.1 TEST EQUIPMENT
The partial arc experiments were implemented in an
artificial climate chamber located in Xi’an Jiaotong University
(XJTU). The radius and height of the artificial climate
chamber located in XJTU are 4 and 5.2 m, respectively. The
size and facilities of both chambers meets the requirements for
contamination flashover tests.
Figure 1. Schematic circuit of XJTU chamber.
The experimental circuit model of XJTU chamber is shown
in Figure 1. The test power is generated by a 150 kV/4 A, 600
kVA transformer with short circuit impedance less than 5% (B
in Figure 1). The applied voltage is measured by a capacitive
voltage divider with a voltage ratio of 10000:1. The leakage
current is acquired by measuring the voltage of sampling
resistance in series with the sample (S in Figure 1). All the
measured signals were recorded by a digital storage
oscilloscope of TEK DPO4054.
2.2 TEST SPECIMENS
The complex geometric shapes of real insulators made it
difficult to record the images of arc propagation, let alone
study the characteristics of partial arc. Hence, a triangular
glass flat plate was installed to investigate V-I characteristic
and re-ignition criteria of AT and AB respectively, as shown
in Figure 2. After contaminating, the distance between
measuring electrode and ground electrode was adjusted to
certain value corresponding to desired arc length. The voltage
of the gap between measuring electrode and ground electrode
was measured by a capacitive voltage divider with a voltage
ratio of 1000:1.
Figure 2. Triangular glass plate.
A “Ȇ” type glass model was also made to investigate the
partial arc evolution and the influencing factors on both top
and bottom surfaces, as shown in Figure 3. The copper bar in
Figure 3 was used to connect the upper and bottom surfaces of
the model. It can be seen in Figure 3 that the contamination
was deposited on the inner side of the glass model. Also, an
ultra-high speed camera RedLake HS-4 was installed to record
the images of arc propagation process horizontally.
Figure 3. “Ȇ” type glass model.
2.3 TEST PROCEDURE AND METHOD
According to the IEC 507 [18], the solid-layer method was
chosen to pollute the specimens before the experiments. The
artificial contamination was a mixture of sodium chloride,
kaolin and de-ionized water. In this investigation, the SDD
were 0.03, 0.05, 0.10 and 0.15 mg/cm2 respectively. And the
non-soluble deposit density (NSDD) of kaolin kept a constant
value of 1 mg/cm2.
After 24 h natural drying, the specimens were wetted by
artificial fog, composition of which was distilled water, until
the contamination layer became “saturated” with water. The
temperature in the chamber was kept about 30 ºC during the
whole wetting process.
In the partial arc characteristics measuring experiments
conducted on the triangular glass plate and the “Ȇ” type glass
mold, even-raising method [18] was adopted. A low voltage
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation
increase rate of 2 kV/s was employed in the experiments in
order to observe the arc propagation more distinctly.
2.4 POLLUTION FLASHOVER TESTS ON
INSLATORS
The three types of porcelain insulators were widely used in
Super-high and Ultra-high transmission lines in China. The
configurations and parameters of them are shown in Table 1,
in which H is the structure height, L is the creepage distance,
D is the nominal diameter.
Table 1. Characteristics of the insulators (in cm).
Type CA-590EZ XWP-300
Configu-
ration
H 19.5 19.5
L 50.5 49.5
D 32.0 33.0
The experiments were implemented in an artificial climate
chamber located UHV Test Base of State Grid Corporation of
China (SGCC), and the dimension of artificial climate
chamber is 12 m × 12 m × 12 m. The schematic circuit of
SGCC was quite similar to the one of XJTU shown in Figure 1.
The test power was a 200 kV/5 A, 1000 kVA transformer. The
applied voltage was measured by a capacitive voltage divider
with a voltage ratio of 1000:1.
In the tests, up-and-down method [18] was adopted to
acquire the 50% flashover voltage, U50%. More than ten valid
data were obtained in the same condition, and U50% can be
expressed as:
U 50%
¦n uu i i
N column increased till reaching a stable state with the increase
Where, ui is an applied voltage, kV; ni is the number of the
tests at the voltage of ui; N is the number of valid tests, N • 10.
2.5 MEASUREMENT OF ARC CHARACTERISTICS
In the partial arc characteristic experiments conducted on
the triangular glass plate, the arc initiated near the ground
electrode due to the high electric field strength. With the
increase of applied voltage, the arc elongated.
(a)
(e)
Figure 5. Images of partial arc (the length of the gap is 5 cm).
Vol. 21, No. 4; August 2014 1737
The applied voltage, the voltage of the gap and the leakage
current was recorded accurately during the arc propagating
process, as shown in Figure 4. And the arc resistance at the peak
moment is also calculated and given in Fig 4. The ultra-high
speed camera could be synchronized externally via a trigger
source in the form of a TTL pulse, which was generated by
DG535 and triggered by the oscilloscope. The delay time of the
whole trigger circuit was less than 100 ns. The obtained images
of arc at the peak of positive half cycle of leakage current were
shown in Figure 5, in which (a) - (h) correspond to the same
identification labels marked in Figure 4.
CA-878EY
20.5
65.0
40.0
Figure 4. Calculated arc resistance, ra; applied voltage, um; voltage of the gap,
ua; and leakage current, i.
As shown in Figures 4 and 5, after the arc reached the
measuring electrode (shown in Figure 2), the gap between the
measuring electrode and ground electrode was entirely bridged
by arc and the voltage of gap declines smoothly. It could be
(1) concluded from Figure 5 that the radius and brightness of arc
of leakage current. At the stable moment, which was marked
with dotted line in Figure 4 and corresponding to the image of
Figure 5d, the leakage current amplitude value reached
maximum Im (in A) and the voltage amplitude of the gap was
minimum Ua (in V). After the stable state, arc levitation
caused by thermal buoyancy was about to take place, as shown
in Figure 4e. With the arc column elongated by the thermal
buoyancy continuously, the arc resistance increased and the
(b) (c) (d)
(f ) (g) (h)
1738 Y. Li et al.: Pollution Flashover Calculation Model Based on Characteristics of AC Partial Arc

leakage current value decreased till the partial arc could not be Table 2. Arc constants obtained by other researchers.
sustained and then draw back. Consuming resistivity of the arc Type of medium A n
state shown in Fig 5d was lowest, which means that the heat Polluted surface [19] 63 0.5
Air gap [20] 100.25 0.66
loss of arc was minimum, and the arc column press to the
Inside snow [20] 826 0.36
surface closely. Polluted surface [19] 40-50 0.83
Figure 6a is the waveforms of voltage and leakage current Ice surface [21] 168 0.325
of the partial arc in a single period. In the figure, i is leakage Ice surface[22] 204.7 0.5607
current; u is voltage drop of arc channel; t is time. The 1/4 Table 3. Arc re-ignition constants.
period of leakage current waveform between A and B Type of medium K b
corresponds to the process that the arc evolves gradually from Polluted surface [16, 23] 940 0.5
re-ignition to steady state; the next 1/4 period between B and Polluted surface [9, 24] 2080 1
C corresponds to the arc extinction process, and the part Polluted surface [17, 25, 26] 531/1050 1
between C and D corresponds to the arc zero-current area. If Inside snow [20] 6370 0.49
the voltage increase again, the primary arc channel will be Ice surface [22] 1118/1300 0.5277
breakdown again, the corresponding u and i waveforms
changing process is shown between Bƍ and B, the leakage According to Tables 2 and 3, it can be concluded that the
current increases as sine wave, and the voltage decreases arc characteristics are susceptible to thermal environments,
rapidly. Therefore, Figure 6a reflects the re-ignition and different surrounding medium corresponding to different arc
extinction process of the partial arc, which is used to characteristics. Thermal buoyancy results in the AT drifting
determine whether the arc is re-ignited. away from the top surface, and the AB close to the surface,
this phenomenon make the heat dissipation of AT and AB
300
10
different, so there must be some significant differences
i between the arc characteristics between AT and AB.
200 u
5
With the same thermal environment, different researchers
100 got different arc characteristics, and this is because all these
D results were obtained by measuring the voltage and current at
i(mA)

u(kV)

0 0
A B' B C the moment that the arc root just reached the measurement
-100 electrode. However, it must take some time for the arc
-5 converts from unsteady state to steady state, so the above
-200 results are the dynamic arc characteristics corresponding to
-10 different unsteady instant, and this is why different researchers
-300
0 5 10 15 20 got different results with the same measuring method.
t(ms)
Figure 6a. Waveforms of voltage and leakage current of partial arc in a single
Therefore, the method that measuring the static arc
period. characteristics of AT and AB on top and bottom surfaces of
triangular glass flat plate separately is according to practice.
In conclusion, V-I characteristics of this moment was the And the measuring method, which chooses the leakage current
static V-I characteristics of the arc. Many researchers proposed on the maximum peak value Im, the corresponding arc voltage
that the arc column propagating on the insulator surface was in drop Ua, and the peak value of applied voltage on the next half
a quasi-equilibrium state, in this situation the input energy was period Um, as the valid data of a test, and then, the expressions
consumed by ionization inside the arc column rather than the of V-I characteristic and re-ignition criteria can be obtained by
streamer initiation in front of the arc roots. So that the V-I regression analyzing abundant valid data. The method is
characteristics of ac arc in stable state can describe the arc shown in Figures 5 and 6a, which can decrease the dispersion
propagating on the real insulator more accurately. The mean of the results. A more accurate static arc characteristic
electric strength Ea (in V/cm) of the arc can be expressed as: contribute to calculate the flashover voltage of insulator more
Ua precisely, because that the input energy is tend to promote the
Ea AI m n (2)
ionization inside the arc channel to make the arc steady, rather
x
than accelerating the arc root propagation before the arc
where, x is the length of the arc, cm; A and n are arc constants. reaches the steady state.
As mentioned in previous work [9, 10, 17], the arc re-ignition
criteria was also considered in this paper: 3 CHARACTERISTICS OF PARTIAL ARCS
Um KxI m-b (3)
3.1 STATIC V-I CHARACTERISTICS
where, Um is peak voltage in previous half-cycle of point d, as In order to determine the static V-I characteristic of AT and
shown in Fig 4, V; K and b are re-ignition constants. AB, a large number of tests were carried out on the
Some of previous research results about A, n and K, b are contaminated triangular glass plate. Two arc lengths (5 cm and
shown in Tables 2 and 3, respectivly: 10 cm) were chosen to be tested.
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 21, No. 4; August 2014 1739

The results corresponding to arc characteristics of AT and AT

1000
AB are presented in Figure 6b. The arc constants, A and n, are AB
determined by adopting regression analysis. 800 Rahal
Guan
The V-I characteristics of AT and AB can be expressed as

E a(V/cm)
600 Ghosh
follows:
400
Eat 112.1I m0.82 (4)
200
Eab 65.8I m1.13 (5)
where, Eat and Eab are the mean electric strength of AT and 0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
AB, V/cm. I(A)
Figure 8. The comparison of the V-I characteristics of AC arc obtained.
by ,other researchers as well as obtained in this paper.
800
x=5cm
700
x=10cm It can be concluded that the V-I characteristic curve
600 Fitting curve
obtained in this paper is lower than other researchers’ results
Eat(V/cm)

500
[27-29]. It is caused by differences in the selecting criterions
400
of valid data. The peak values of the cycle in which the arc
300 reached the measuring electrode were adopted as valid data in
200 literature [15, 17]. As mentioned above, the arc column will
100 come to the stable state a while after it reaches the measuring
0.0 0.2 0.4
Im(A)
0.6 0.8 1.0 electrode.
(a) V-I characteristic of AT 3.2 RE-IGNITION CRITERIA
1200
x=5cm As mentioned previously, the arc re-ignition criteria can be
1000 x=10cm expressed by equation (3). A large number of tests were
Fitting curve
800 carried out in order to obtain the re-ignition constants k and b
E ab(V/cm)

600 of partial arcs on both top and bottom wet contamination

surface. The experimental results and fitting curve are shown
400
in Figure 9.
200
3
6x10
0 x=5cm
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 3
Im(A) 5x10 x=10cm
3 Fitting curve
(b) V-I characteristic of AB 4x10
Em(V/cm)

Figure 6b. V-I characteristics of AT and AB. 3

3x10
3
The values of A and n measured by different researchers 2x10
vary over a wide range for different types of arcs, which is 1x10
3

caused by the difference of propagation medium [2, 3, 9, 15- 0

17]. As for differences in V-I characteristics of AT and AB, 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
Im(A)
even though the propagation medium is the same, the shapes (a) Re-ignition criteria of AT
of AT and AB are different, as shown in Figure 7. 4
1.2x10
x=5cm
4
1.0x10 x=10cm
3 Fitting curve
8.0x10
Em(V/cm)

3
6.0x10
3
4.0x10
3
2.0x10
0.0
Figure 7. The section diagram of top and bottom partial arc. 0.0 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2 1.5 1.8
Im(A)
It is well known that the direction of thermal buoyancy is (b) Re-ignition criteria of AB
straight up, so that AB clings to the glass surface compared Figure 9. Re-ignition criteria of AT and AB.
with AT. The differences of thermal conductivity of air and
glass result in the differences in V-I characteristics. It can be concluded that from Figure 9 there is a difference
A comparison of V-I characteristics of ac arc obtained by between the re-ignition criteria of partial arcs on top and
other researchers as well as obtained in this paper is shown in bottom surfaces to some extent. The arc re-ignition constants,
Figure 8. K and b, were determined by using the regression analysis.
1740 Y. Li et al.: Pollution Flashover Calculation Model Based on Characteristics of AC Partial Arc

The re-ignition criteria of partial arcs on top and bottom than AT in the same leakage current peak value. The “cold
surfaces can be expressed as follows: wall effect” acting on AB is much stronger than on AT, by
adopting the points mentioned in literature [30], which results
U mt t 701.5 xt I m1.00 (6)
in the thinner AB. The calculation result proposed by Wilkins
0.86
Umb t 878.6x I b m (7) is very close to the radius of AT, as shown in Figure 11, which
where, Umt and Umb are re-ignition voltage for AT and AB, means that Wilkins only took the heat dissipation condition of
V/cm. xt and xb are the length of AT and AB, cm. AT into consideration in his original works.
A comparison of arc re-ignition criteria of AT and AB is 0.6
rt
shown in Fig 10. In which, Em=Um/x. If leakage current value 0.5
rb
is larger than 0.2 A, the re-ignition voltage in per unit length Wilkins
0.4
of AT is smaller than that of AB at the same current values.

r(cm)
As mentioned in Section 3.1, AB has a better heat dissipation 0.3
condition than the one on top surface, thus the dielectric
0.2
performance of bottom surface recover better than that of top
surface when leakage current crossing zero, so higher voltage 0.1
is necessary for arc re-ignition on bottom surface compare 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4
Im(A)
with the one on top surface [30, 31].
Figure 11. The arc column radii of AT and AB and the calculated result
8 proposed by Wilkins.
AT
7
AB The fitting curves are obtained by adopting the regression
6
5
analysis. The radius of AT and AB can be expressed as
E m (kV/cm)

4
follows:
3 rt 0.51I m0.57 (8)
2 rb 0.62I 0.47
m
(9)
1
0 3.4 PROPAGATION PROCESSES
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
Im(A) The “Ȇ” type glass model was used to investigate the length
Figure 10. The comparison of arc re-ignition criteria of AT and AB. changing of AT and AB with different SDD of contamination
layer, as shown in Figure 3. The ultra-high speed camera with
3.3 COLUMN RADII 1000 fps was implemented to record the arc propagation
The column radii of AT and AB were also investigated in process, as shown in Figure 12. In all the images of Figure 12,
this paper. The obtained results and the calculated result the upper arc column propagates on the bottom surface of the
proposed by Wilkins [32] are shown in Figure 11. The glass plate and the down arc propagates on the top surface of
symbols rt (in cm) and rb (in cm) represent the radius of AT the glass. The arc length varies with leakage current peak
and AB respectively, and r is the arc column radius. It can be value in different SDD is shown in Figure 13. It can be
concluded from Figure 11 that the arc column radius increases concluded that the length of AT and AB change with leakage
with leakage current peak value, and the radius of AB is less current peak almost linearly.

(a) 0ms (b) 20ms (c) 40ms (d) 140ms

(e) 200ms (f) 220ms (g) 225ms (h) 226ms

Figure 12. The section diagram of top and bottom arc.
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 21, No. 4; August 2014 1741
50 50
xt xt
40 xb 40 xb

30 30

x/cm
x/cm
20 20

10
10

0
0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
Im/A Im/A
2 2
(a) ȡSDD=0.03mg/cm (b) ȡSDD=0.05mg/cm
50 50
xt xt
40 xb 40 xb

30 30

x/cm
x/cm

20
20

10
10
0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4
Im/A Im/A
(c) ȡSDD=0.10mg/cm2 (d) ȡSDD=0.15mg/cm2
Figure 13. The length of AT and AB varies with leakage current peak value.

The relationship between arc root propagation speed and the
electric field strength was studied by many researchers [33-38],
and the propagation speed of arc root caused by the traction of
electrostatic force was obtained
3H 0 E 2 l
v (10)
4S r U
where, İ0 is permittivity of vacuum, E is the electric field
strength in front of the arc root, l is the arc length, Then, take
the relationship I g E 2 l [34] into consideration, we can get
There are rarely any researches about the propagation speed
of arc root so far, but the present researches indicate that the
arc length increases linearly with leakage current increasing
[34, 37 , 39, 40].
Because the length of AT and AB vary with leakage current
almost linearly, the ratio of AT increment ǻxt to AB increment
ǻxb for the same increment of Im is shown in Figure 14.
The parameter k was designed to stand for the ratio of ǻxb to ǻxt:
k ' xb ' x t (16)

12 Experimental result
3H 0 I (11)
v Fitting curve
4S g U r
9
where, g is a parameter about electron mobility, ȝ [34]
6
k

g 2S H 0 P (12)
Hence, the propagation speed of arc root can be expressed as 3

1 3I (13)
v 0
2S 2 UP r 0.04 0.08 2
0.12 0.16
USDD(mg/cm )
Take the difference between arc column radius of AT and Figure 14. Ratio of AB increment ǻxb to AT increment ǻxt.
AB into consideration, the arc root propagation speed of AT By using the regression analysis, k is expressed as follows:
and AB can be expressed as follow separately 1.32
k 0.12 USDD (17)
1 3I (14)
vt where, USDD is the SDD, mg/cm . The fitting correlation 2
2S 2 U P rt
coefficient R2 is 0.94, which means the fitting curve is in good
agreement with the obtained values from the tests.
1 3I (15)
vb
2S 2 U P rb
4 MODELING OF POLLUTION FLASHOVER
So it is clear that vt ˘ vb, duo to the relationship rt ˚ rb. 4.1 EFFECTIVE CREEPAGE DISTANCE OF
Therefore, it is easy to understand that the length of AB is INSULATOR
longer than that of AT corresponding to the same leakage During the contamination flashover process of real
current. insulator strings, it can be obviously investigated that the
1742 Y. Li et al.: Pollution Flashover Calculation Model Based on Characteristics of AC Partial Arc

propagation speed of arc on bottom surface is faster than

that on top surface, and the radius of AT is bigger than that
of AB. however, the partial arcs don’t always propagate
along the surface because of the complicated insulator
surface; there are some parts of arcs bridge the adjacent
sheds, this phenomenon is shown in Fig 15 and Fig 16. The
arc bridging phenomenon short some parts of the creepage
distance, leads to the flashover voltage decrease. So it is
significant that the arc bridging phenomenon should be Figure 17. Schematic diagram of effective creepage distance.
taken into consideration in the pollution flashover
where, x1 and x2 are the partial arcs of insulator surface at the
calculation, otherwise, the calculating result will has large
moment of pre-flashover, so the critical arc length xc can be
error.
expressed as follows:
xc x1  x2 (18)
And the effective creepage distance Le can be expressed as
Le xc  Lr (19)
The experiments, analysis and theoretical derivation for
establishing the calculation method of Le has been fully
detailed in another literature [40], and the Le calculating
empirical equation of outer-rib type and under-rib type
insulators are given separately by
c
0.072 § S De ·
(a) Real process
Le 0.147
(1.161USDD  0.352G CF USDD )¨ ¸ L (20)
© d0 ¹
c
0.211 § S De ·
0.384 (21)
Le (0.805 U SDD
 0.119G CF U )¨SDD ¸ L
© d0 ¹
where, įCF is the creepage factor of the insulator string; De is the
equivalent diameter of insulator, cm; c is constant, c=0.60; d0 is the
ideal rectangular pollution layer surface, which creepage distance is
(b) Schematic diagram fully utilized, in above-mentioned two equations, d0=10cm. the
Figure 15. the propagating process of partial arcs on the surface of XWP-300 effective creepage distances of both under-rib type and outer-rib
insulator with the SDD value 0.08 mg/cm2. type insulators can be calculated by equations (16) and (17).
4.2 RESIDUAL CONTAMINATION RESISTANCE
Wilkins proposed a function to calculate the residual
contamination resistance by adopting the method of images
[32]. However, his equation is too complicated to be used in
the calculation. Guan [28] obtained residual contamination
resistance by adopting electric axis method, and the equation
is expressed as follows:
(a) Real process 1 Lx (22)
R  x ln
SJ e r0
Je is expressed as:
J e 1.25J (23)
where, Je is surface conductivity at the critical moment; Jis the
surface conductivity obtained with normal method. The
relationship between Jand ȡSDD was given in literature [41]:
(b) Schematic diagram
Figure 16. The propagating process of partial arcs on the surface of CA-
590EZ insulator with the SDD value 0.03 mg/cm2.
In order to represent the phenomenon that the flashover
voltage of insulator doesn’t increase linearly with its creepage
distance increasing, the conception “effective creepage
distance” was proposed, and it can be descript as follows:
J  369.05USDD  0.42  u106 (24)
Equation (22) was widely used in the calculation of residual
contamination, but it assumed that the arc radius was the same
on different position of insulators, which was not
correspondent to the fact. Considered of the radius difference
of AT and AB, the residual contamination resistance is
calculated by adopting electric axis method in this paper.
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 21, No. 4; August 2014 1743

For modeling of two ac arc columns propagation, the arc re-

ignition criteria should be considered:
U m t K t xt I mbt (30)
U m t K b xb I mbb (31)
where, Kt and bt are arc re-ignition constants of AT; kb and bb
are arc re-ignition constants of AT. In the critical case of AC
arc re-ignition criteria, equations (30) and (31) is rewritten as
Figure 18. Schematic diagram of electric axis method [17]. follows:
As shown in Fig 18, the two circular electrodes represent Um K t xt I m bt  K b xb I m bb (32)
AT and BT, in addition, -Wand +W represent two charged thin
As mentioned in Section 3.4, the relationship between xt
wires with charge linear density of W. The distance D between
and xb can be expressed as follows:
the two circle centers is the length of residual contamination.
According to literature [17], the potential difference Mtb xb kxt (33)
between A and B can be obtained:
Without this relationshipˈthe critical values of xt and xb
M tb
W
ln
 b  h1  rt  b  h2  rd  (25) cannot be determined by equation (29).
2SJ e  b  h1  rt  b  h2  rd  In conclusion, the double-arc model can be re-write as
Thus, the resistance between the two small circular follow:
electrodes can be expressed as follows: ­U m At xt I m nt  Ab xb I m nb  I m R  xt , xb 
° (34)
R
Mtb 1
ln
 b  h1  rt  b  h2  rb  (26)
® U m K t xt I m bt  K b xb I m bb
°
W 2SJ e  b  h1  rt  b  h2  rb  ¯ xt kxb
Because rt << b and rb << b, thus,
b  h1  h2 (27) 4.4 CALCULATION METHOD OF DOUBLE-ARC
Equation (26) can be rewritten as follows: MODEL
1 ( L  x t  xb ) 2 4.4.1 SOLUTION OF DOUBLE-ARC MODEL
R  x t , xb  ln
2SJ e rt rb
4.3 DOUBLE-ARC MODEL
Many researchers have confirmed that the contamination
flashover voltage of insulators can be predicted by adopting
mathematical models based on Obenaus model [9].
Considered of the differences in the characteristics of AT and
AB mentioned above, an AC double-arc mathematical model
was established in this paper. The model is shown in Figure 19,
(28)
Equation (34) contains transcendental equations, so it is
difficult to solve the equations directly. Therefore, the double-
arc model should be deduced so as to calculate the flashover
voltage of various types of insulators conveniently.
Plug equation (28) into equation (29), and then take the
derivative of (29) with respect to Im, and set derivative equals
constant, the following relationship can be obtained:
0.547
R  xt , xb  nt At xt I m nt 1  nb Ab xb I m nb 1 + (35)
and the corresponding equation is expressed as follows: SJ e
Um At xt I m nt  Ab xb I m nb  I m R  xt , xb  (29) In case of xt and xb are known, the value of Im that satisfies the
relationship (35) is the critical leakage current of flashover,
and assume that the critical value is In. Plug Im=In and
equations (28), (35) into (29), and then take the derivative of
(29) with respect to xt and xd respectively, we can obtain
wU m In
At I n n t  (36)
wxt SJ e  Le  x t  x b 
wU m In
Ab I n n b  (37)
Figure 19. AC double-arc model. wxb SJ e  L e  x t  x b 
where, Um is the peak value of applied voltage, V; Im is the
Sets wU m wU m 0 , we can get the following relationship by
peak value of leakage current, A; At and nt are the arc wxt wxb
constants of AT; Ab and nb are the static arc constants of AB;
equations (36) and (37):
xt and xb are the length of AT and AB, cm; R (xt, xb) is the 1
residual contamination resistance, :. In this model, creepage ª At nb 1 º nt  nb
distance L is replaced by effective creepage distance, taking Le  xb  xt SJ e « nt 1 » (38)
the arc bridge on the insulator surface into consideration. ¬ Ab ¼
1744 Y. Li et al.: Pollution Flashover Calculation Model Based on Characteristics of AC Partial Arc

Therefore, the double-arc model can be represented by the glass model and 3 types of suspension insulators. Then the
following equations: results were compared with experimental ones.
Based on the analysis and deduction of double-arc model, a
­U m K t xt I mmt  K b xb I mmb
° MatlabTM program was used for calculating the flashover
° R  x , x  n A x I  nt 1  n A x I  nb 1 + 0.547
t b t t t m b b b m
° SJ e
°
® 1
° ª At nb 1 º nt  nb
° Le  xb  xt SJ e « nt 1 »
° ¬ Ab ¼
°¯ xb E xt
4.4.2 CALCULATING FLOW
For the aim of calculating the contamination AC flashover
voltage of insulator, there are several aspects: firstly, calculate the
effective creepage distance Le on the basis of the parameters
including SDD, equivalent diameter De, creepage factor ; secondly,
calculate the ratio between the arc lengths on top and bottom
surface, ȕ; and then calculate the critical lengths of AT and AB and
critical leakage current; finally, calculate the flashover voltage on
the basis of critical arc lengths and critical leakage current. Figure
20 is the calculation flow chart of double arc model:
criteria of the specimens. The flashover voltage of the “Ȇ”
type glass model and U50% of the three types of insulators were
(39) carried out experimentally. The parameters of the insulators
have been provide in Table 1, and the 50% flashover
experimental method was also been proposed in section 2.4.
The comparisons between the experimental result, the
calculated results and the result of model proposed by Guan et
al [17] are shown in Figure 21. It can be concluded that the
calculated results of double-arc model are in good agreement
with the experimental data, and the results of double-arc
model is more accurate than that of Guan’s classic model in
terms of calculating the flashover voltage of insulators.
Therefore, the double-arc model is available for practical
engineering design.

ȡSDD(mg/cm2) ȡSDD(mg/cm2)
1.32 L dl 6
E 0.12 U SDD De = 2 L ³ J e 1.25
˄369.05 USDD  0.042˅<10 “Ȇ” type glass mold CA-590EZ
0 r (l )

c
­
0.211 0.384 § S De ·
°(0.805 USDD  0.119G CF USDD )¨ ¸ L(under-rib)
° d
© 0 ¹
Le ® c
° 0.147 0.072 § S De ·
°(1.161USDD  0.352G CF USDD ) ¨ ¸ L(outer-rib)
¯ © d0 ¹

ȡSDD(mg/cm2) ȡSDD(mg/cm2)

ª A n 1 º n  n
b t
1
b
XWP-300 CA-878EY
Le  xb  xt SJ e « t n 1 » Figure 21. The comparisons between the tested data, the calculated results
¬ Ab ¼
t

and the result of the model proposed by Guan.

6 CONCLUSIONS
A mathematical was established to calculate the pollution
flashover voltage of insulators. The experimental investigation
made it possible to determine the static arc constants and the
0.547
R  xt , xb  nt At xt I m  nt 1  nb Ab xb I m  nb 1 + arc re-ignition constants to model the AC arc discharge on
SJ e
wet-polluted surfaces. From the results obtained the following
conclusions may be drawn:
Um M t xt I mmt  M b xb I mmb 1) The re-ignition and static V-I constants of an arc
propagating on top wet-polluted dielectric surface are
different from those obtained for an arc propagating on
bottom wet-polluted dielectric surface; with the same
Figure 20. Calculation flow chart of double arc model.
leakage current and the same arc length, the voltage
gradient of the arc on top wet-polluted surface is bigger
5 VALIDATION OF THE MODEL than that on bottom surface; The re-ignition voltage of arc
In order to validate the double-arc model on the flashover on top surface is smaller than that of arc on bottom
voltage of insulators, the model was applied to the “ɉ” type surface.
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 21, No. 4; August 2014
2) Arc column radius increase with the leakage
current increasing exponentially; with the same leakage
current, arc column radius on top surface are bigger than
that on bottom surface.
3) Partial arc lengths increase linearly with the
leakage current increasing, but the increments
corresponding to the same leakage current increment are
different between the arc propagating on the top surface
and on the bottom surface, the ratio between them is only
relate to SDD.
4) Based on the result of researches in this paper, a
double-arc model was established for pollution flashover
calculation. The comparison result indicates that it is
effective to calculate the 50% flashover voltage of under-
rib, two-outer-rib and three-outer-rib type insulators.
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1746 Y. Li et al.: Pollution Flashover Calculation Model Based on Characteristics of AC Partial Arc
Yawei Li was born in Henan Province, China in
1980. He received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from
the School of Material Engineering, Henan University
of Science and Technology and School of Electrical
Engineering, Sichuan University, China, in 2004 and
2007 respectively. He is currently working toward a
Ph.D. degree at High Voltage Division, School of
Electrical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University.
His major research interests include outdoor
insulation.
Hao Yang was born in Hebei Province, China in
1988. He received the B.Sc. degree from the School
of Electrical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University,
China, in 2011. He is currently working toward the
Ph.D. degree at High Voltage Division, School of
Electrical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University. His
major research interests include outdoor insulation.
Qiaogen Zhang was born in Jiangsu Province,
China, in 1965. He received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and
Ph.D. degrees from Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an,
China, in 1988, 1991, and 1996, respectively. He is
currently a professor with the State Key Laboratory
of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment,
School of Electrical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong
University. His major research interests include
outdoor insulation, pulse power technology, gas
discharge and its application.
Xiaolei Yang was born in Sichuan Province, China,
in 1988. He received the B.Sc. degree in electrical
engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an,
China, in 2012. He is currently working toward a
M.Sc. degree at the High Voltage Division, School of
Electrical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University.
Xinzhe Yu was born in Tianjin, China, in 1983. He
received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical
engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an,
China, in 2008 and 2011, respectively. He is currently
working toward a Ph. D degree at High Voltage
Division, School
Jun Zhou was born in Jiangsu province of China in
1973. He received the Ph.D. degree from Tsinghua
University, China in 2004. After graduation, he
worked in China Electric Power Research Institute.
His major research field is external insulation,
especially in UHV areas.