Monte Carlo simulation of prebreakdown currents in gaseous bubbles of insulating liquids

The breakdown in insulating liquids are initiated by electron multiplication process either in oil or in bubbles created in the interelectrode gap. As per the reported literature, gaseous bubbles are formed by vaporisation of the liquid under the application of strong fields. These bubbles are located at the tips of asperities on the cathode, where low density regions are developed. In order to estimate the prebreakdown current growth in the bubble, Monte Carlo method is adopted, since this kind of phenomena is stochastic in nature and the behaviour of a large number of electrons can be predicted with ease. The present work computes the the growth of current in gaseous bubble by tracing the trajectory of all primary and secondary electrons, using random number generators.