Finite-Element Time-Domain Simulation of Electric Discharges

A formulation to deal with materials having dispersive and nonlinear characteristics in the finite-element time-domian method is proposed. The approach is illustrated by an electric discharge simulation in a spark gap switch based on the collision plasma vector differential equation with a polarization current dependent resistivity. The simulated voltage response across the spark gap switch matches the waveform of the measured curve and allows the extraction of the unknown plasma frequency for the electric discharge in air.