Theoritical and Experimental Determination of the Magnetic Blast Field due to the Current Flow in the Electrodes

A simple e!ectrode arrangement was used to compare the arc motion under both magnetic self-blast field and external field conditions. An "equivalent external field" was determined causing the same arc velocity under zero (compensated) self-blast fieid conditions as obtained for self-blast field driven arcs. The self-blast field was calculated for this special arrangement and compared with the measured equivalent external field. The influence of electrode gap length, lateral displacement of the arc from the center line, and current was investigated in detail by numerical calculation and experimentally.