Electrical treeing in epoxy resin: experimental investigation and simulation

The paper presents results both from computer simulation and experimental studies of the electrical treeing in epoxy resin under AC voltage in the needle plane geometry. The physical-mathematical model used for the simulations is a self-consistent model, which involves both electrical tree growth and PD events within the growing tree channels. The test setup used for the investigations allows carrying out a shadowgraph survey of the growing tree, phase resolved partial discharge measurements, and registration of the light emitted by the tree. The model parameters have been adjusted to match the optical observations of electrical tree growth and partial discharge measurements. Experimental and simulation results are compared and discussed.