Investigation on Low-Current Vacuum Arc Behavior by Two-Dimensional Spectroscopic Observation and Numerical Modeling using Moving Particle Semi-implicit (MPS) Method

Two-dimensional spectroscopic observation was carried out in the experiments to obtain the radiation intensity distribution of specified spectral lines for a study of vapor dynamics in vacuum arcs at low currents. Two ICCDs were used to intensify the two-dimensional spectral radiation intensity from the copper neutral atoms and ions between the copper electrodes. In addition, we have developed a hybrid model using unique particle and fluid methods to obtain the dynamic behavior of metal vapor in a vacuum arc in low-current phase. The developed simulation model was used to calculate temporal evolutions in radiation intensity distribution of the specified emission coefficients from copper atoms. The calculated emission coefficient distributions were compared to the experimentally obtained two-dimensional radiation from copper atoms to verify the developed model. Results showed a rough agreement between them.