MHD Simulation of Moving Arcs

S. Kosse1 , M. Wendt1 , D. Uhrlandt1 , K.-D. Weltmann1 , Ch. Franck2

1
INP Greifswald, Felix-Hausdorff-Str. 2, 17489 Greifswald, Germany
2
ABB Switzerland Ltd., Corporate Research, Am Segelhof 1, Baden-Dättwil 5405,
Switzerland

Abstract fluid dynamic simulations. The latter treat the arc as

Arcs moving due to Lorentz forces in gases in the range a given power source and consider the flow behavior
from normal to high pressure are used in several tech- only. A recent overview is given in [1]. A number
nical applications. A time-dependent 3D simulation of assumptions in particular concerning the geometry
solving the MHD (Magneto-hydrodynamic) equation and dynamics of the arc are necessary in these models.
system is applied here to study the behavior of a mov- A more precise description of moving arcs requires the
ing high-pressure arc in more detail. As examples, appropriate coupling of the electromagnetics and the
arcs in dry air and in SF6 gas rotating in a cylindri- flow dynamics in 3D. Deviations from LTE can be ne-
cal arrangement between ring-shaped electrodes due glected in most cases to simplify the modelling. First
to an external radial magnetic field are analyzed. Lo- examples of such 3D simulations of moving arcs in air
cal Thermodynamic Equilibrium (LTE) is assumed. and SF6 are reported.
Recalculated data for gas composition are applied.
The thermodynamic properties have been determined
by self-consistent kinetic models. The arc model has
been implemented into a commercial fluid dynamics
package which solves the Navier-Stokes equations and
Maxwell’s equations. Results allow the determination
of the arc velocity and a comparison with analytical
estimations. The impact of the lateral blowing is stud-
ied by a numerical experiment comparing the arc be-
haviour with and without the radial magnetic field.

Figure 2: Main contributions to the composition of

Figure 1: Geometry with ring-shaped electrodes
(blue), dielectrics (green) and two coils (red).
I. INTRODUCTION
Moving arcs are a well established method for all
thermal arc applications where an increased power dis-
sipation is required. Examples are low voltage switch
gear, high current breakers, plasma torches and plasma
spraying devices. Most numerical descriptions up to
now are restricted to 2D MHD simulations or to 3D
dry air at 1 bar.
This work is focussed on the numerical study of long-
time movements of thermal arcs as they can be ob-
served in cylindrical arrangements with ring-shaped
electrodes and where an external radial magnetic field
is applied. The configuration considered here is shown
in Fig. 1. Identical copper electrodes of inner radius
of 15 mm, outer radius of 18 mm and distance of 10
mm are embedded in a dielectricum which also covers
coils each with two windings near the electrodes. A to-
tal volume of 60 mm in diameter and 20 mm in hight
is treated with outlet conditions at the borders of the
gas region (except of the solid borders). This should

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represent a cut-off of the gas chamber which is con-
sidered as large enough so that pressure increase and
reflection of pressure waves at the chamber walls can
be neglected in the model. The geometrical configu-
ration is similar to experimental arrangements, e.g. in
[2].
The description is based on the treatment of arc and
gas as a conducting compressible flow in one-fluid ap-
proximation. Therefore, Navier-Stokes equations are
solved for mass density, gas velocity and enthalpy.
Lorentz force and ohmic heating are sources in the
momentum and power balance, respectively. Accord-
ing to that, current conservation is considered and the
electric and magnetic vector potential are determined
from the appropriate form of Maxwell‘s equations in
the whole simulation area. A similar equation system
is given in detail in [1]. Heat balance is solved for the
temperature in the solids.

II. THERMODYNAMICS
Using the assumption of LTE, transport coefficients
and plasma composition are calculated dependent on
pressure and temperature with standard methods.
The composition results from the system of coupled
mass action laws complemented by the equation of
state and the charge neutrality condition. Chapman-
Enskog’s method is applied for the determination of
the transport coefficients. The expansion of the ki-
netic equations with Sonine polynomials has been
checked up to several orders. Third order approxi-
mation turned out to be sufficient for convergence of
the transport parameters here.
First studies are performed for dry air and for SF6 .
Fig. 2 shows the plasma composition obtained for air
without impurities at 1 bar. As an example for the Figure 3: Electrical (a) and thermal conductivity (b)
transport parameters, electrical and thermal conduc- in dry air at 1 bar.
tivity, σ and λ, for air at 1 bar are compared in Fig. 3
with results from the literature. The influence of dis- cretization of the equation system is applied. The volt-
sociation and ionization processes becomes obvious in age drop is forced by choosing appropriate boundary
particular in the complex shape of λ. Deviations from values of the electric potential at the outer boundaries
the result of Ref. [4] probably arise due to the use of of the electrodes. These values are controlled in such
different cross sections. a way that a given time-dependent arc current I(t) is
Radiation is treated here in a simple way as op- established. The same current is led through the coils
tically thin and according to the Stefan-Boltzmann for the generation of the radial magnetic field. The
law. The loss term 4κσSB T 4 is applied in the power arc is initiated by a temperature channel connecting
balance with the effective mean absorption coefficient both ring electrodes at one azimuthal position. Here,
κ = 2.0 for air and κ = 1.0 for SF6 . σSB is the Stefan- a cylindrical temperature profile constant in axial di-
Boltzmann constant, T the arc temperature. rection and with a Lorentz profile in radial direction.
Maximum temperature of 15 kK has typically been
chosen. The simulations are carried out by a commer-
III. SIMULATION RESULTS cial CFD code with appropriate adaptations and using
The simulation area (cf. Fig. 1) is meshed with a time step of 5 · 10−7 s and 200 internal iterations
about 100000 unstructured cells. Finite volume dis- (sweeps) in maximum at every time step.

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Figure 4: Isosurface of the constant current density
2·107 A/m2 in the arc in air at t=2.5 ms. Temperature
is given in color at the isosurface.
Figure 5: Contour plot of the temperature in the arc
in air at the axial plane in the center between the
electrodes at t=2.2 ms.

Simulations of the rotating arc in air have been per-

formed for a pressure of 1 bar and applying the current
I = I0 sin(2πf t) with I0 = 4 kA and f = 50 Hz over a
time period of 5 ms starting at t = 0.03 ms, i.e. initial-
izing the arc at 40 A. The radial magnetic field reaches
0.6 T near the electrodes at the maximum current. As
soon as the arc is established it starts moving in par-
allel to the electrodes. The arc rotates with increasing
velocity and executes more than four revolutions dur-
ing the first 2 ms. For illustration, the arc visualized in
3D by a surface of constant current density at the sim-
ulation time 2.5 ms is shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 5 presents
the temperature distribution at an axial plane in the
center for the time 2.2 ms. With increasing current Figure 6: Arc velocity from the simulation and esti-
and rotation velocity of the arc, the arc cross section mations according to (1) for the arc rotation in air.
(i.e. range of high temperature and current density)
becomes larger and strongly deviates from a simple el- and its mean radial distance from the origin (as the
lipse. A hot tail establishes behind the arc and hot-gas circumference) has been considered. The smoothed
clouds are ejected from the arc boundary in radial di- result is given in Fig. 6. The arc velocity is mainly de-
rection. Because the arc moves through a much colder termined by the acceleration due to the Lorentz force
gas, the situation can be compared with the lateral and the slowing down due to the replacement of cold
blowing of an unmoved arc except for the larger energy gas in combination with the convection losses. The lat-
transfer to the electrodes in case of rotation. The arc ter can be described approximately by considering the
rotation leads to to an increase of the gas temperature movement of a cylinder in a gas and the correspond-
in the overall volume. This results in a lower impact ing friction. Estimations of the arc velocity have been
of the blowing effect and an increase of the rotation obtained according to [2]
velocity. The rotation of the arc is generally not regu-
lar, sometimes reignitions at new positions have been
s
I B
observed. The described qualitative behavior is well v= · (1)
known from corresponding experiments (e.g. [2]). Rcw ρ
The velocity of the arc rotation has been deduced
where R is the radius of the arc, B the radial mag-
from the simulations observing the motion of the point
netic field strength, ρ the mass density of the cold
of maximum current density in a the central axial
gas in front of the arc and cw the drag coefficient. In
plane (cf. Fig. 5). The angular velocity of that point
spite of the observed deviations of the arc shape from

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a cylinder and the deviations from the model of a lam-
inar flow of cold gas around the arc, drag coefficient
and arc radius can be estimated only very roughly. In
addition, the magnetic field is not homogeneous along
the arc column. The velocity has been estimated in
the first 2 ms of the simulation using cw = 2, a vari-
able approach
p of the arc radius R and including the
quantity B/ρ in front of the arc. As it can be seen
in Fig. 5, a satisfying agreement is obtained at least
for the first two revolutions.
Figure 7: Gas velocity and temperature in the mid
electrode plane a) at t=0.5 ms with radial magnetic
field and b) at t=2 ms after switching off the coil cur-
rent.
Simulations in SF6 gas have been performed at a
pressure of 3 bar and with a current increasing up to
5 kA. Same qualitative behaviour as in air has been
observed. To reveal the effect of axial blowing a nu-
merical experiment has been applied. At the simula-
tion time t = 0.5 ms the coil current has been switched
off and the arc current has been kept constant at the
value of 5 kA. As expected, the arc velocity decreases
after the disappearance of the radial magnetic field.
The arc movement stops at about 0.75 ms and the arc
starts to establish at the new conditions without the
lateral blowing effect. A comparison of these two arc
1016
modes under similar conditions except for the rotation
becomes possible. In Fig. 7, gas velocity and temper-
ature are given in the axial plain in the center between
the electrodes for the two times 0.5 and 2 ms. The gas
swirl due to the lateral blowing becomes obvious in
part a of Fig. 7. Instead of such a swirl a pronounced
expansion of the arc in radial direction can be seen in
part b, e.g. for the case without the arc rotation.
Figure 8: Current-voltage characteristic (a) and corre-
sponding arc velocity (b) in the numerical experiment
in SF6 . Green arrows indicate the time of switching
off the coil current.
Additionally, the two different modes of the arc can
be distinguished in the current-voltage course shown
in Fig. 8. There is a clear jump in the voltage at about
0.8 ms, i.e. 0.3 ms after switching off the radial mag-
netic field. Estimations of the arc velocity are given in
part b of the figure which prove that the arc rotation
does not stop immediately but with a delay of nearly
0.25 ms. The absence of lateral blowing changes the
radial profiles of temperature and current density of
the arc. Therefore, the change of the power consump-
tion, an increase by about 25% in the example, is not
surprising. A more detailed analysis and comparison
of the two arc modes is the subject of future work and
should give hints for the dominant changes in the arc
power balance.

IV. CONCLUSION
3D MHD simulations of moving arcs have been per-
formed in air and SF6 . As an example, the arc ro-
tation in an external radial magnetic field has been
studied. The observed arc movement and flow behav-
ior, which is to some extend irregular, agrees qual-
itatively with experimental observations. The exam-
ples prove the necessity and the abilities of 3D calcula-
tions where drastic approximations concerning geome-
try and symmetry as in corresponding 2D simulations
can be avoided.

V. REFERENCES

[1] A. Gleizes, J. J. Gonzales, and P. Freton, “Ther-

man plasma modelling”, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.
vol. 38, pp. R153-R183, 2005.
[2] J. Kopainsky and E. Schade, “Rotating high cur-
rent arc”, Appl. Phys. vol. 20, pp. 147-153, 1979.
[3] M.I. Boulos, P. Fauchais, and E. Pfender, “Ther-
mal Plasmas: Fundamentals and Applications”, vol.
1, Plenum Press, New York, London 1994.
[4] M. Capitelli, G. Colonna, C. Gorse, and A.D.
Agola, “Transport properties of high temperature
air in local thermodynamic equlibrium”, Eur. Phys.
J. D 11, pp. 279-289, 2000.

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