Nonlinear Finite Element Formulation And Analysis of high-power air/dielectric breakdown in time domain

A high power microwave (HPM) device can be damaged in a high-power environment due to an air or dielectric breakdown inside the HPM device or on the output window. Such a breakdown process can be modeled using either a simple nonlinear conductivity model or a plasma fluid model. In this paper, we propose a nonlinear time-domain finite element formulation in combination with a Newton method to solve the breakdown problems. Both the nonlinear conductivity and the plasma fluid models are incorporated, and the nonlinear breakdown phenomena are simulated and analyzed.