Mapping of fields induced by electrical trees in polyethylene

A technique for calculating electric field distributions associated with electric trees in polyethylene is presented. The method utilizes images of trees obtained by means of visible-light microscopy and image-to-material conversion for setting up a computational model. Results of calculations of fields induced by various types of single trees in needle-plane electrode system as well as multiple trees in wire-plane system are discussed. For the former, the computed magnitudes of the field strength are compared with those obtained utilizing other advanced imaging techniques.