A Study on the Primary Mode of Pulsed Positive Streamer Discharge in Water

The primary mode of the pulsed positive streamer discharge in water has been studied by the shadowgraph imaging techniques utilizing an ultrahigh speed frame camera system. The propagation speed and the flare angle of the fan-shaped primary streamer were measured and their dependence on the water conductivity and the applied voltage were investigated. The initial propagation speed of the primary streamer is about 4-6 km/s and rapidly decreases to about 1.5 km/s. The water conductivity and the applied voltage have no significant influence on the propagation speed of the primary streamer. The flare angle of fan-shaped structure of the primary streamer ranges from 150° to 210°, and increases with increasing the applied voltage. In the voltage range 15 to 17 kV, the water conductivity has no significant influence on the flare angle of the fan-shaped structure, but as the applied voltage increases beyond 18 kV, the flare angle of the fan-shaped structure decreases with increasing the water conductivity. Based on the plasma discharge in a bubble and the fact that the radius of primary streamer is about 200-400 μm, the primary streamer in water seems to be incepted by the positive ions at the head of the discharge filament generated in the microbubble, which penetrates into the water through spattering process and forms a gaseous trajectory in the bulk water.