2019 Electrical Insulation Conference (EIC), Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 16-19 June 2019
Finite Element Modeling of Partial Discharge
Activity within a Spherical Cavity in a Solid
Dielectric Material under Fast,
Repetitive Voltage Pulses
Moein Borghei and Mona Ghassemi
ECE Department, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, VA, USA
Abstract— Accelerated aging of insulation systems used in
different apparatus under fast, repetitive voltage pulses is the most
significant barrier to benefit from wide bandgap (WBG) power
electronics. Frequency and slew rate which are higher for WGB
devices than Si-based ones are two of the most critical factors of a
voltage pulse, influencing the level of degradation of the insulation
systems that are exposed to such voltage pulses. Finite element
analysis (FEA) has been widely used to study partial discharge
(PD) behavior under a power frequency (50/60 Hz) sinusoidal
waveform within cavities in a solid dielectric. However, the new
technologies urge the need to utilize it under square waveforms. In
this paper, a FEA model of PD activity is developed. The model is
used to investigate the change in the electric field distribution
before and after PD occurrence and the impact of different
involved parameters when repetitive voltage pulses are applied to
the dielectric.
Keywords— Finite element analysis (FEA), partial discharge
modeling, square waveform voltage.
I. INTRODUCTION
By the emerging WBG-based converters, significantly high
efficiency has been achieved. However, accelerated aging of
insulation systems used in different apparatus due to fast,
repetitive voltage pulses originated by WBG devices will be the
most significant barrier to realizing WBG-based power
conversion [1]. The most crucial insulation degradation factor
under fast, repetitive voltage pulses is PDs [1-3]. Although
some methods based on a combination of geometrical
techniques and applying nonlinear resistive grading coating
layers to high field regions have been proposed [4-8], the
illustration and understanding of mechanisms and factors
behind PD can help to utilize electric field control methods
better.
In the case of repetitive square wave surges, two PDs occur
for each pulse; one in the rising side, and the other on the falling
side. There have been numerous investigations on the PD
phenomena physical characteristics [9]. One of the major works
conducted on PD physics had focused on understanding the
effect of the presence of void defect inside an insulation
material [10-12].
Repetitive voltage surges impose large capacitive currents
to the insulation systems, subsequently creating hot spots which
stress grading systems. For systems which are not designed to
978-1-5386-7624-0/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE
undergo these hot spots such as those operating under 50 Hz
sinusoidal voltages, this can turn into a serious issue and cause
thermal aging of grading.
There are three main PD models for representing the void-
dielectric system: Three-capacitance (abc) models, induced
charge concept models, and finite element analysis (FEA)
models [13]. The abc-model introduced by Whitehead [14]
presents an equivalent circuit including three capacitances to
model the cavity inside an insulating material. While being a
simple model, it provides an appropriate insight into PD
phenomena from a macroscopic standpoint. However, the
circuit cannot truly represent the physical processes that occur
within the real system [15].
Pedersen et al. developed an analytical model in mid- 1980s
and 1990s to use the concept of induced charge on the electrode
of the system for describing the transients associated with the
partial discharge in the cavity [15-17]. While this model could
provide a more accurate explanation for the PD phenomena, it
might become too complicated for more sophisticated
geometries, and also some assumptions that are made for
development of this method rose some critics; for instance, the
presumption that the capacitance of the system is not affected
by PD occurrence was later dismissed by Achillides et al. [18].
In this paper, a FEA model is developed to determine the
electric field and voltage distribution within a spherical cavity
in a solid dielectric as well as in the solid dielectric material
under a square wave voltage. Employment of FEA provides the
opportunity to delve into the details of the PD right before and
after the PD occurrence, while the other methods do not. The
additional advantage of FEA over other methods is its
applicability to more complicated geometries. The impact of
cavity diameter in different stages of PD occurrence will also
be studied. COMSOL Multiphysics is employed for FEA.
II. METHODOLOGY
A. PD Inception Criteria
To initiate a PD event, two conditions must be satisfied; first,
the voltage inside the cavity must exceed the inception voltage
(𝑈 ) and second, an initial free electron should be present to
initiate the ionization process. To determine 𝑈 , the inception
electric field (𝐸 ) has to be estimated. The voltage at which the
electric field inside the cavity reaches 𝐸 is defined as the
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inception voltage. 𝐸 for a spherical void is determined by the where 𝜎 is the initial surface conductivity (~10 𝑆𝑚 ),
following equation [19]: and 𝛼 is the coefficient for surface conductivity
𝐸 𝐵 (~10 𝑚𝑚 𝑘𝑉 ). Modeling of this stage of PD was performed
𝐸 = 𝑝 1+ (1) by the Electric Current physics in COMSOL Multiphysics.
𝑝 (𝑝𝑙)
Where (𝐸/𝑝) , 𝐵 , and 𝑛 are the gas parameters related to
streamer criterion. 𝑝 is the gas pressure, and 𝑙 is the defect scale
parallel to a background field. For air, the values of (𝐸/𝑝) and
𝐵 are 24.2 𝑉𝑃𝑎 𝑚 and 8.6 𝑃𝑎 / 𝑚 / . For a spherical
cavity, 𝑙 is assumed to be equal to the cavity diameter (𝑑).
B. After PD Inception
When the conditions mentioned above for PD initiation are
satisfied, it is assumed that the streamer discharge enhances the
conductivity of the cavity from an initial value to a higher level
named 𝜎 , . This causes that voltage across the cavity to
decrease, and once it becomes lower than the extinction voltage,
the PD event is finished. 𝜎 , can be calculated by the
following formula [20]: Fig. 1. The geometry of the case study.

𝛼𝑒 𝑁 𝜆 III. SIMULATION RESULTS

𝜎 , = (2)
𝑚 𝑐 The geometry considered for modeling and simulations is the
where same as that used in [22] as shown in Fig. 1. It is a cylindrical
𝑞 block of epoxy resin (𝜀 = 5.2) with a spherical cavity inside
𝑁 = it. The geometrical parameters of the void-dielectric set are
4
𝜋𝑒𝑟
3 brought in Table II.
Where 𝑐 is the thermal velocity, and 𝜆 represents the mean TABLE II. DIMENSIONS OF THE CASE STUDY
free path of electrons. 𝛼 is a coefficient related to the electron Parameter
Dielectric Dielectric Cavity Cavity Surface
energy distribution and the mean free path. 𝑟 stands for the Thickness Radius Diameter Thickness
cavity radius while 𝑒 and 𝑚 are the elementary charge and its Value 3 mm 5 mm 1.2 mm 0.05 mm
mass, respectively. The typical values for these parameters are Due to the axial symmetry of the configuration, a 2D
listed in Table I. axisymmetric model is developed in COMSOL Multiphysics.
TABLE I. PARAMETERS RELATED TO CAVITY CONDUCTIVITY To validate our FEA model developed in COMSOL
Parameter 𝜶 𝝀𝒆 (𝝁𝒎) 𝒄𝒆 (𝒎𝒔 𝟏 ) 𝒆 (𝑪) 𝒎𝒆 (𝒌𝒈)
Multiphysics, first, the simulation results reported in [22] under
Value 0.85 4 3x108 1.602×10−19 9.109×10-31
an 18 kV and 50Hz sinusoidal voltage were reproduced. Then,
the applied voltage was changed to a square wave with the
𝑞 is the maximum physical charge magnitude and for a specifications listed in Table III. By assuming the duty cycle to
spherical cavity can be determined by the following formula
be 50%, Umax is calculated in a way that the RMS value of the
[21]:
𝑞 square wave is equal to that of the sinusoidal voltage considered
≅ 2𝜈 (3) in [22].
𝑞
TABLE III. SQUARE WAVE VOLTAGE PARAMETERS
where: Parameter Umax f Rise time Duty Cycle
𝜋𝜀 𝐸 𝐵
𝑞 ≅ (2𝜀 + 1) 𝑝𝑙 [1 − 𝛾 + ] Value 18 kV 3 kHz 1 µs 50%
4 𝑝 (𝑝𝑙)
Fig. 2 shows the effect of cavity diameter on the electric
𝜈 is the overvoltage ratio (the applied voltage to the inception field magnitude at the center of the cavity. Similar to the case
voltage). 𝛾 is the ratio of streamer field to a critical field which of sinusoidal voltage, the electric field inside the cavity does
has a typical value of 0.2 for air when a positive polarity voltage not substantially decrease when increasing the cavity
is applied. dimension, especially for smaller cavity diameters.
The charges produced in a PD event can decay through Fig. 3 demonstrates the difference between two different
several ways such as the decay of charge by ion drift,
voltage types in terms of inception voltage. The maximum
neutralization of charges, and surface conduction. The latter applied voltage magnitude for both is 18 kV. As it can be
would be considered here as the dominant effect. Surface inferred from the figure, the 3 kHz square wave voltage shows
conductivity, 𝜎 , is assumed to have a strong dependency on higher inception voltage than the sinusoidal waveform. But the
temperature and the electric field inside the cavity [21]. By simulation results have also shown that as the frequency of the
presuming a constant temperature, it can be derived by the square wave increases, the inception voltage becomes closer to
following formula: the inception voltage of 50 Hz sine wave. At 30 kHz, the
𝜎 (𝑡) = 𝜎 exp(𝛼 |𝐸 (𝑡)|) (4) inception voltage curve versus diameter is similar to the case of
50 Hz sinusoidal wave which has been shown in Fig. 3. Thus,

35
this yields the conclusion that at high-frequency pulses, not cavity decreases, and the uniformity of the radial field is
only the rate of discharges in the unit of time is more, but also slightly distorted.
partial discharge occurs at lower voltages inside the cavity.

(a)

Fig. 2. The relationship between electric field intensity and cavity diameter
for different values of maximum voltage.

(b)
Fig. 4. Electric field distribution (a) before and (b) after the first partial
discharge.

Fig. 3. The inception electric field magnitude versus cavity diameter for two
different voltage types.

Fig. 4 shows the axial distribution of electric field intensity

in the whole void-dielectric system before and right after the
PD occurrence. As it was expected, the electric field inside the
cavity was much higher than the surrounding dielectric owing
to the difference in the permittivity values of dielectric and air
(by a factor of 3𝜀 /(2𝜀 + 1) [19]). Once the PD occurs, the
accumulated charges due to the discharge activity creates (a)
another electric field component which opposes the primary
electric field due to the applied voltage. Therefore, after a PD
event, not only the field intensity inside the cavity decreases,
but also it will have the minimum value in the whole void-
dielectric system. In this case, the upper and lower cavity
surfaces will undergo maximum stress. This is quite similar to
what we expect from a PD activity whether a sinusoidal or pulse
voltage is applied.
Figs. 5 and 6 demonstrate the axial and radial distribution
of the electric field, respectively before and after the first PD
event. These figures confirm the above debate about the field
(b)
distribution. Moreover, before the PD event, as the cavity Fig. 5. Electric field distribution along the z-axis (a) before and (b) after the
diameter increases, the electric field along the z-axis in the first partial discharge for different cavity diameters.

36

(a)
(b)
Fig. 6. Electric field distribution along the r-axis (a) before and (b) after the first
partial discharge for different cavity diameters.
IV. CONCLUSION
To accurately assess the insulation lifetime of WBG power
electronic modules under square wave voltages, this paper
focused on electric field analysis when the dielectric material
undergoes a repetitive pulse voltage. To do so, the finite
element method was adopted to find the voltage and field
distribution within the void-dielectric system. As it was
expected, the first PD event occurred at the rising flank of the
first voltage pulse, and it was observed that discharge
significantly affect the stress on the cavity and its surroundings
in a PD event. Also, it was inferred that as the frequency of
pulses goes up, the voltage at which PD occurs will be
decreased, and larger cavity diameters can give rise to even
lower strength.
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