Velocity and electric field of the arc root propagating over an ice surface

Power outage caused by flashovers of ice-covered insulators is a challenging problem in cold climate regions. In order to investigate the physical mechanisms and factors which influence arc propagation over ice surface, a simplified ice model is used. A model was developed to calculate the electric field of the arc head and the velocity of arc propagation. In order to validate the model, high-speed photography using an ultra-high speed camera was employed. A simplified physical setup which enables us to observe the movement of arc head over an ice surface was used. Arc velocity over the ice surface was measured experimentally from the captured images and the results have been compared to the calculated value from mathematical model.