A combined engineering model for the analysis of switching surge flashover characteristics of long air gaps

Abstract

The flashover characteristics of long air gaps submitted to switching surge voltages may be predetermined by use of a mathematical model of leader propagation. The present model is developed from each combination of previous engineering models, and is also applied to positive rod-to-plane geometries with gap lengths up to 20 m. However, four parameters to determine leader propagation with respect to our model are adjusted in the present calculation so as to fit experimental flashover voltages and calculated flashover voltages which depend on waveforms of the applied voltage and gap length. The calculations show that these parameters are only a function of gap length. Our combined engineering model using parameters that depend on gap length allows the flashover characteristics of long air gaps to be easily determined with a microcomputer.