Influence of the gas flow rate on the nonchemical equilibrium N₂ arc behavior in a model nozzle circuit breaker

The influence of the gas flow rate on the N₂ arc behavior was investigated based on a previously established nonchemical equilibrium (non-CE) model. This numerical non-CE model was adopted in the N₂ nozzle arc in a model circuit breaker. The arc behaviors of both the arc burning and arc decay phases were obtained at different gas flow rates in both the non-CE and local thermal equilibrium (LTE) model. To better understand the influence of the gas flow rate, in this work we devised the concept of the nonequilibrium parameter. Additionally, the influences of convection, diffusion, and chemical reactions were examined separately to determine which one contributed most to the non-CE behavior. Finally, laser Thomson scattering (LTS) measurements at different gas flow rates were adopted to further demonstrate the validity of the non-CE model. The results of the macroscopic behaviors indicate that the deviations between the non-CE and LTE models during the arc burning phase are much fewer than those during the arc decay phase. By the nonequilibrium parameters, it clearly indicates that with an increase in the gas flow rate, the non-CE effect will be greatly enhanced. During the arc burning phase, this non-CE effect is mainly caused by radial diffusion of the particles. During the arc decay phase, for the charged particles, the chemical reactions had the greatest effect on the time variations of the particle number densities; however, for the neutral particles the time variations of the number densities were mutually influenced by convections, diffusions, and chemical reactions. Finally, the LTS results further demonstrate the validity of the non-CE model at different gas flow rates.