Simulation of vacuum electric arcs for thermal analysis

Arcing in spacecraft is a well known phenomenon in the Aerospace industry. Generally, the only signature in the spacecraft telemetry when an arcing event takes place is the current drawn in to the arc from the power bus and the temperature of the affected and surrounding equipment. A method of simulating a vacuum electric arc for thermal modeling purpose was developed in the IDEAS platform. A simplified thermal model of electrical arc was developed to reproduce the thermal signature of an in orbit arcing event in thermal analysis. The electrical arc thermal simulation was carried out at various suspected arcing locations. The temperature signature from the analysis was compared with the actual/ hardware simulation results. This approach was used to identify the location of an electrical arc and its magnitude (power). Ground tests were also carried out and temperatures observed during the ground tests were used to validate the thermal model. This paper explains the methodology used and how this modeling principle was validated through measured data.