Towards the plasma-polymer simulation in treeing branches

Electrical Treeing is one of the main phenomena that influence the aging of insulating components in the power grid. There are plenty of measurement systems that can detect partial discharges associated with the treeing. However, due to the complexity of this phenomenon, it is usually difficult to estimate the extension and progression rate of the treeing. In this work we take a step forward towards the development of a model, based on first principles, that can represent the evolution of a plasma in treeing channels. This can be considered a first step towards a better estimation of the residual life of insulating components.