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A New Dynamic 3D FEM Model of Arc Propagation
on Cap-and-Pin Polluted Insulator to Predict DC
Flashover Voltage
A.ABIMOULOUD, D.KORICHI
Laboratoire de Gnie Electrique (LAGE)
Universit Kasdi Merbah Ouargla
Ouargla, 30000, Algeria
adel.abimouloud@gmail.com
AbstractMathematical models are an essential element in
the calculation of the outage rate of overhead lines due to
pollution level. Several dynamic and static models have been
proposed to explain the mechanisms underlying the propagation
of arc on polluted surfaces. Dynamic approaches are more
realistic since most of the parameters involved in the arc
development process tend to change instantaneously with time.
The aim of this work is to improve the dynamic DC flashover
model by refining the residual resistance calculation using three-
dimensional Finite Element Method (3DFEM) model of the
pollution layer. This model which depicts a real cap-and-pin
insulator surface is implemented by COMSOL Multiphysics
software. The calculated resistance is then introduced in an
iterative dynamic model which is based on resistive electrical
circuit model and electrical field propagation criterion. Besides
the flashover voltage, the simulation results allow us to determine
various arc characteristics evolution versus time such as leakage
current, arc velocity, and arc voltage. The Flashover voltage
simulation results provided by the model are quite satisfactory
compared to static model reported in the literature.
Keywords Polluted Insulator, Dynamic Flashover Model,
FEM Model, Residual Resistance.
I. INTRODUCTION
Outdoor high voltage insulators are crucial elements for the
design of high voltage transmission power lines. In fact, when
exposed to environmental condition outdoor insulators are
subject to several types of pollution. If the insulator is dry, its
performance remains generally unchanged. However, if the
surface becomes wet noticeable leakage current flows and
causes dry bands to come out at narrow sections of the
insulator due to heating effects. Since almost the whole applied
voltage appears across these dry bands, partial arcs may occur
at the insulator surface. Under certain conditions, these partial
arcs can grow to produce a complete flashover [1,2].
Cap-and-pin disk glass insulators are very common because
of their high dielectric strength and their resistance to ageing.
When an arc occurs, the leakage current density at the pollution
978-0-9567157-6-0 IEEE 2016
S.ARIF
Laboratoire dAnalyse et de Commande des Systmes
dEnergie et Rseaux lectriques (LACoSERE)
Universit Amar Telidji - Laghouat
B.P 37G Laghouat, 03000, Algeria
layer depends on the shape of the insulator surface and the
position and radius of the arc. This renders the residual
resistance behavior noticeably nonlinear, especially for cap-
and-pin insulator shape. However, most mathematical models
reported in the literature use a linear approximation of the
residual resistance, which leads to substantial uncertainty in
critical values estimation [3].
In this work we develop a new Three-Dimensional Finite
Element Method (3DFEM) model of the pollution layer where
we place an arc root spot at a successive position along the
creepage path of the cap-and-pin insulator. This allows
evaluating the residual resistance in an adequate way.
Dynamic flashover mathematical models allow predicting
critical values while taking into account the evolution in time
of the different parameters involved in the flashover process.
Therefore, we are interested in elaborating a dynamic model
which uses the residual resistance issued from the 3DFEM
model to simulate the behavior of polluted insulator and predict
their flashover voltage.
The arc occurring phenomena on polluted surfaces are so
complex that it is essential to make a number of simplifying
assumptions to enable their representation using mathematical
models. In our study, we adopted certain assumptions which
are given as follows:
x The surface conductivity of the pollution is the same at
any point of the polluting layer and does not change
during the propagation of the discharge;
x The pollution layer is represented by a resistor;
x Among all developing multiple arcs on the insulating
surface, one dominant arc is considered;
x The applied voltage is a DC voltage.
II. BASIC MODEL

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The first quantitative model of an arc occurring on a The arc root intersection with the pollution layer is
polluted surface was proposed by Obenaus [4]. The idea is to assumed to be cylindrical. Its radius is the arc radius and its
represent the polluted layer and the discharge which propagate height is similar to pollution thickness. The arc root position
over it as an electrical circuit of two resistors in series. The first starts from the pin on the bottom side then propagates toward
the cap on the top side over the leakage path. The arc position
HT is incremented by 0.5cm to get a quite accurate distribution of
Rarc Rp
I the resistance evaluation. The arc radiuses used are 0.5 cm and
0.07 cm which correspond respectively to typical arc currents
x L-x of nearly I1=1A and I2= 20mA according to the following
equation [10]:
L

Fig. 1. Basic equivalent electrical model (3)

resistor noted Rarc represents the discharge of length x and the where stands for the radius of the arc root.
second noted Rp represents the resistance of the pollution layer
non-bridged yet by the discharge (Fig.1). In this model, we use boundary conditions to represent a
connection to a DC voltage source. The upper end of the
He deduced pollution layer is grounded (Fig. 4a), and the arc root is
(1) connected to a constant Voltage of 30kV (Fig. 4b), using the
Terminal boundary condition. The resistance of the pollution
Where Ve is the electrode voltage drop of nearly 1kV,
usually neglected. layer is then computed, as well as the current density. The
governing Maxwell equations are:
It is then assumed that the arc current is the same which
passes through the conductive layer. It is, therefore, necessary  , , (4)
to have the appropriate relationship of both resistance Rarc and Where E is the electrical field; V is the electrical voltage; J
Rp to solve the equations of this circuit. is the current density and is the volume conductivity.
After processing, the voltage distribution is plotted in Fig.5.
III. 3DFEM MODELING OF THE POLLUTION LAYER RESISTANCE
The leakage current line can be even represented. These lines
The insulator used in our simulation U160AD has an open reveal that every pollution layer part in the top or bottom
or aerodynamic profile as shown in Fig. 2. Most of previous surface of the insulator contributes more or less as conducting
FEM modeling of real insulators were aimed to study the path of the leakage current. The residual resistance value can
voltage and current distribution over the insulator polluted be deduced and stored for each arc position.
surface before arc occurrence or without taking into account
the current concentration at the arc root. These configurations
have revolution symmetry and can be satisfied with 2D
models [5, 6, 7]. In contrast, if we consider the arc in contact
with the pollution layer as circular spot, the 3D model is
inevitable in order to get more significant results. Despite that
3D models are memory and time consuming, we can remedy
that by focusing only on the pollution layer remaining
resistance. In fact, during DC arc development the leakage
current became at most resistive and the effect of the pollution
layer and the arc are dominant factors over dielectric insulator Fig. 2.U160AD Aerodynamic insulator profile
proprieties [8]. Therefore, in this investigation we use TABLE I.  GEOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF U160AD INSULATOR
COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3 to perform 3D FEM model where Diameter of the insulating part, D 420 mm
we consider only the pollution layer without taking into Spacing, H 146 mm
account neither the dielectric material nor the surrounding air, Nominal leakage distance 400 mm
saving then processing memory and computing time (Fig. 3). Pin diameter 20 mm
Our objective is to estimate the remaining residual resistance
of the pollution layer for different positions of the arc root.
The pollution layer with a uniform thickness of 1mm takes the
shape of the insulator. The insulator shape and dimensions are
illustrated in Fig.2 and Table I. The volume conductivity of
the pollution layer used is 0.1 S/m which corresponds to
severe pollution equivalent salt deposit density (ESDD) level Fig. 3. Cross section of U160AD insulator pollution layer
(0,27 mg/cm) with surface conductivity 
according to the following equation [9].
 (2)

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Algiers, Algeria- November 15-17, 2016

given point (x, I), where the arc length x fall between two
existing data point xi et xi+1 at the given surface conductivity
, We interpolate first with respect to arc length as
follow :



(a) (b)
Fig. 4. Boundary conditions of 3D FEM model


(a) The ground boundary, (b) The high voltage boundary
Then, we interpolate with respect to leakage current:



Consequently, for other surface conductivity the residual
resistance can be calculated by the following equation:

(5)

Fig. 5. Voltage and current line distribution on the pollution layer

The Fig. 6 shows simulation results of the residual

resistance computed by 3D FEM model compared to a linear
mathematical model. The linear model made the assumption
of a uniform pollution resistance per unit of leakage length.
This model doesnt consider the current constriction at the arc
root. Its total resistance is deduced when the DC voltage
boundary is applied at the bottom end of the pollution layer
instead of the arc root.
The linear model present very low resistance compared to
the 3DFEM models which consider current concentration on
the arc root.
We notice, when the arc position is on the bottom surface,
that the resistance is not necessarily decreasing and it seems to
remain constant. This means that not only the distance forward
the arc toward the cap is involved in the conducting behaviors Fig. 6. Residual resistance of the pollution layer versus arc length.
but also the backward distance, mainly when the arc position
is on the bottom surface. In addition, when the position of the
arc comes on a highly curved part of the insulator surface, the IV. DYNAMIC ARC MODEL AND PROPAGATION CRITERION
resistance drops compared to the nearby values. This was To perform dynamic modeling we use state-space
reported in experimental works for other cap and pin representation which provides system dynamics as a set of
insulators [11]. It could be explained by the fact that in this first-order differential equations in a set of internal variables
case, the arc intersection with the pollution layer has not a known as state variables. Together with a set of algebraic
perfect circular shape but an oval form with an elongated equations, we combine the state variables to evaluate the
circumference which leads then to a lower resistance. It can physical output variables.
also be seen that changing the arc radius generates
proportionally a net change in the residual resistance. In our system, we have two state variables which are the arc
length x and the arc resistance per unit length rarc. The first
Hence, the residual resistance depends not only on the arc differential equation is given by following [12]:
length but also on the leakage current as a function of two



variables. (6)

To exploit these discrete data point results issued form the
Where  , is the arc time-constant, n and A
FEM model in flashover prediction model, we use a bilinear
are the constants of the static characteristic of the arc according
interpolation to estimate the residual resistance for other
to Ayrton equation relating the current to the arc gradient [13]:
values of current and arc length. The key idea is to perform
linear interpolation first with respect to arc length, and then 

(7)

again in the other direction, with respect to leakage current.
If we want to find the value of the residual resistance for a In the our simulation the following values were adopted:
n=0.76, = 100s and A = 63

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The second differential equation represents the arc velocity

which is given by the following [14]

  (9)
Start
Where  is arc mobility and  is the
Input A, n, s, , , V, V
pollution gradient. The pollution gradient is calculated in the
3DFEM resulst Rp(xi,Ij)
region nearby the arc root using the current density.

 (10)
Initialization x, rarc
Time t=0
To calculate the leakage current I we substitute equation (5)
in equation (1) as following:

 (11) Compute: I, Rarc Increase the voltage

Rp, Earc, Ep. V=V+ V
Developing this equation leads to a quadratic equation for
the variable I that can be solved analytically. No
t=t+dt Ep> Earc
The propagation criterion we adopted is that proposed by Yes
Hampton [13]. He established that the arc cannot spread unless
Compute
the electric field in the Ep pollution exceeds the electric field in x increment: dx
the arc column Earc. Therefore, the propagation condition is as rarc increment: drarc
follows:
(12) x=x+dx
rarc= rarc+drarc
The flowchart of the dynamic model is presented in Fig.7.
During the evolution of this simulation program, all the No
x>L
other parameters changing over time are also recorded and can
be used to describe the evolution in time of the insulator Yes
behavior. Flashover
Save V
V. NUMERICAL SIMULATION RESULTS
In the Fig.8 the flashover voltage of the dynamic model is End
compared to the flashover voltage of the static model. The
Fig. 7. Flowchart of the dynamic model
latter is obtained from Neumarker relationship given by [12]:

(8)
Where rp represents the average resistance per unit of the
leakage length.
We perceive that the flashover voltage decreases with the
increase of the surface conductivity for both models and tends
to decrease slowly for high surface conductivity. However, we
notice that the dynamic model gives greater values compared
to those of the static model. This can be explained by the fact
that the dynamic model uses high resistivity during simulation.
This type of variation has also been reported by other
researchers when measuring the flashover voltage as a
function of resistance.[8]
The curves in Fig. 9 show the time evolution of the arc
length, arc voltage, arc current and arc velocity. We notice that
the curves have a first portion corresponding to relatively slow
growth which is the propagation phase, followed by a sharp
increase in the velocity which corresponds to the flashover
stage.
Fig. 8. Flashover voltage versus surface conductivity

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[3] Y. Li, H. Yang, Q. Zhang, X. Yang, X. Yu and J. Zhou, "Pollution

Flashover Calculation Model Based on Characteristics of AC Partial Arc
on Top And Bottom Wet-Polluted Dielectric Surfaces", IEEE Trans.
Dielectr. Electrl. Insul., Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 1735-1746, 2014.
[4] F. Obenaus, Fremdschicht, "Uberschlag und Kriechweglange", Deutsche
Electrotechnik, pp. 135-136, 1958.
[5] M.T. Gencglu and M. Cebeci, "The pollution flashover on high voltage
insulators", Electr. Power Syst. Research, Vol. 78, pp. 1914-1921, 2008.
[6] Z. Aydogmus and M. Cebeci, "A New Flashover Dynamic Model of
Polluted HV Insulators", IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Elect. Insul., vol. 11, pp.
577-584, 2004.
[7] S. A. Bessedik, H. Hadi, C. Volat and M. Jabbari, Refinement of
Residual Resistance Calculation Dedicated to Polluted Insulator
Flashover Models, IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electrl. Insul., Vol. 21, No. 3,
pp. 1207-1215, 2014.
[8] M. Farzaneh and J. Zhang, "A Multi-Arc Model for Predicting AC
Critical Flashover Voltage of Ice-Covered Insulators", IEEE Trans.
Dielectr. Electr. Insul., vol. 14, no. 6, pp. 1401-1409, 2007
[9] F. V. Topalis, I. F. Gonos and I. A. Stathopulos Dielectric behaviour of
polluted porcelain insulators IEE Proc.-Gener. Transm. Distrib., Vol.
148, No. 4, pp. 269-274, 2001.
[10] R. Wilkins, Flashover Voltage of HV Insulators with Uniform Surface
Pollution Films, Proc IEE, Vol. 116, pp. 457-465, 1969.
[11] P. Claverie, "Predetermination of behavior of polluted insulators", IEEE
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[12] F. A. M. Rizk and D. H. Nguyen, "Digital Simulation of Source-
insulator Interaction in HVDC Pollution Tests", IEEE Trans. Power
Del., vol. 3, pp. 405-410, 1988.
[13] F. Rizk, Mathematical Models for Pollution Flashover", Electra, Vol.
Fig. 9. Evolution of electrical characteristics during flashover for V=9kV,
78, pp. 71-103, 1981.
= 40
[14] A. M. Rahal and C. Huraux, "Flashover Mechanism of High Voltage
Insulators," IEEE Trans, on Power Apparatus and Sys., Vol. PAS-98,
No. 6 pp. 2223-2231, 1979.

VI. CONCLUSION
This work allows us to develop a dynamic model to
determine the flashover voltage of the U160D overhead
insulator using 3D FEM model. We realize that the arc root
radius is a major factor affecting the residual resistance
thereby flashover voltage and critical leakage current.
Furthermore, when the arc position is on the bottom surface of
the insulator the residual resistance tends to remain constant.
This behavior cannot be predicted by any equivalent plan
models.
Dynamic modeling can also help to determine other
different arc parameters taking into account the change in
pollution resistance due to insulator profile and current
intensity during propagation. The comparison between the
numerical simulation results of the developed dynamic model
and the static model shows that the static model provides an
underestimated flashover voltage values.
The numerical exploitation of the developed dynamic
model allows further describing the temporal evolution of the
various insulation system characteristic such as leakage
current, the arc voltage, and its velocity.
REFERENCES
[1] M. Farzaneh and W. A. Chisholm. Insulators for icing and polluted
environments Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press; Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley, pp.
241-290, 2009.
[2] J. M. George and Z. Lodi Design and selection criteria for HVDC
overhead transmission lines insulators CIGRE Canada Conference on
Power Systems Toronto, October 4 - 6, 2009.

978-0-9567157-6-0 IEEE 2016