Modelling of temporal temperature and pressure change due to partial discharge events within a spherical cavity in a solid dielectric material using finite element analysis

Partial discharge (PD) events within a closed-volume cavity in a dielectric material can cause a temperature change in the cavity. This may influence the occurrence of following PDs because the pressure in the cavity is affected, which changes the inception voltage level for the next PD. In this paper, a two-dimensional axial symmetric model geometry consisting of a spherical cavity within a homogeneous dielectric material has been developed using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) method. The model has been used to simulate the temperature distribution in the cavity before and after a PD. The variation in the temperature distribution is implemented in the PD model to study the influence of temperature and pressure change in the cavity due to a discharge on the sequence of PD events.