A reliable numerical method for the calculation of breakdown voltages

When it comes to the design of high voltage equipment, transmission lines and substations there is a general interest on predicting the breakdown characteristics for different gap geometries. Nowadays, the knowledge on this kind of design is based on experimental results of arrangements like rod - rod and rod - plane, conductor - rod, conductor - plane, and the well - known K factor, which is the relation between the breakdown voltage of a specific gap and a rod - plane gap with the same gap distance. Standards and Guidelines [3 - 5] have accepted an approximation of the experimental results and some authors have worked to develop equations based on experiments [6 - 8]. In the present work we present the results obtained while applying a self consistent model to calculate the breakdown voltages for different electrode configurations used by Paris [1]. The well known K factor is calculated and compared with the experimental results.