Computer aided tools in gas circuit breaker design

A software tool that allows the numerical investigation of the gas flow in circuit breaker chambers has been devised. A zonal grid methodology, with a corresponding finite-volume flow solver for the Euler equations, has been implemented for the treatment of the intricate geometries of the interrupter. Computational examples to illustrate the validity of the method are presented. Experimental tests were done on full-size breakers, and the results are analyzed using the proposed computational approach.<
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