APPLICATION OF COMPUTATIONAL FLUID-DYNAMICS TOOLS TO CIRCUIT-BREAKER FLOW-ANALYSIS

This paper presents the results of the application of a computational fluid dynamics computer program to the simulation of cold and plasma f lows in circuit-breakers. The underlying physical model is based on th e axisymmetric form of the conservation equations which are coupled wi th an are model including ohmic heating and radiative exchanges of ene rgy in the fluid. Various cases are computed, ranging from steady cold flow to unsteady arc-flow interaction. A good agreement has been foun d between the computed solutions and the available experimental data, demonstrating a great potential of these tools for circuit-breaker des ign and analysis in the future.