CFD Simulation of Internal Arc Faults in Gas-Insolated Switchgear

In the course of this work a model to simulate the pressure build up as well as the pressure release through a burst disk inside the bus bar section of gas insulated switchgear was developed and implemented. The main focus was on the investigation of differences in results when using 2D axisymmetric meshes instead of 3D meshes. This is of enormous interest as 2D meshes are simpler to create and can be simulated with less computational effort. Another focus was on the influence the arc position has on the pressure build up and especially the pressure peak inside the switchgear in the event of an arc fault. This was necessary to determine whether the simulation model needs to be extended through the implementation of arc movement.