A Numerical Model to Simulate the Processing of Electrical Distribution Cables - Part 11 (Curing Rates)

A numerical model is developed to simulate the curing and quenching of electrical stridistribution cables. The model considers a moving cable with possible three-dimensional variations ions in properties and boundary conditions. An exponential decomposition of the crosslinking agent is assumed; decomposition is then expanded in a Taylor's series to provide a means of continuously updating the progress of cross-linking. The variables of curing are analyzed by examining both a laboratory scale and a full-size facility. With the larger cables, cross-linking may continue well into the quenching stage. Hydrogen abstraction from absorbed water molecules, a potential competing reaction, apparently is insignificant.