The computer simulation of the vacuum arc emission center

The paper presents a two dimensional (2-D) hydrodynamic model of vacuum arc emission center-"ecton"-which is an outgrowth of the one-dimensional problem that we have solved earlier. The numerical simulation was carried out for the initial stage of the operation of the cathode spot of a low-current vacuum arc on a copper cathode. It has been shown that, in terms of this model, the current flows in the main through the edges of the cathode spot. Based on a these data, a mechanism for the motion of a cathode spot has been proposed.