Magnetohydrodynamics modeling and characteristics simulation of air switching arc

Taken into account the properties of arc plasma and electromagnetic, heat and radiative phenomena, commercial computational fluid dynamics software FLUENT has been adapted and extended by self-written routines to develop the 2-D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model of air switching arc. Then the relationships between arc radius, strength of electric field and current, and the influence of external magnetic field on arc motion are analyzed in detail. The relative experiments have also been carried out. The results demonstrate that the variation of arc radius is restricted by the width of arc chamber wall with the increase of arc current; The arc current hardly affects the strength of electric field; The arc motion will be accelerated by the external magnetic field and simultaneously the effect of magnetic pressure makes the arc concentrated and local pressure raised in the area of high temperature.