Self-organized criticality in electrical treeing

Self-organized criticality aspects of electrical treeing in solid dielectri c under ac voltage are considered. The sandpile model of self-organized cri ticality is modified to describe partial discharge activity from electrical treeing. A comparison of avalanche statistics simulated by the modified sa ndpile model and partial discharge data obtained in experiments confirms th e existence of self-organized criticality in electrical treeing. (C) 2001 P ublished by Elsevier Science B.V.