Ultrahigh-Pressure Nitrogen Arcs Burning Inside Cylindrical Tubes

When the pressure and temperature of a fluid exceed a critical point, the fluid enters into the supercritical (SC) region. In this region, the physical properties are believed to be in favor of a good current interruption medium. This paper focuses on the arc voltage characteristics of nitrogen arcs burning inside cylindrical tubes at different filling pressures: 1, 20, 40, and 80 bar, thus covering the SC region. Two different tube materials have been used in the experiments, alumina and polytetrafluoroethylene. Arc voltages are measured for arcs burning inside tubes of 2, 4, 8, and 15 mm inner diameters. In addition, free-burning arcs have been investigated at the same filling pressures. The arc current was 150 A at 350 Hz throughout the study. The arc voltage is found to increase with decreasing inner diameter of the tube at atmospheric pressure. At higher filling pressures (i.e., 20, 40, and 80 bar), however, such a simple relationship is not observed. The arc temperature and radius have been calculated based on the “simple theory of free-burning arcs” and the “two-zone ablation arc model.” The calculated arc radius decreases with increasing gas pressure. Furthermore, due to increased absorption of radiation at high filling pressures, ablation is found less significant for ultrahigh-pressure nitrogen arcs compared to atmospheric pressure arcs. This is in line with the observations from optical micrographs of the inner surfaces of the tubes exposed to arcs at different filling pressures.