Electric arcs are characterised as a bright light source which is due to electrical current through a normally nonconductive medium such as air. Their physical nature is a thermal plasma at ambient pressure and temperatures on the order of 10kK, initiated by dielectric breakdown or drawn from separating electrode while current is flowing; of particular engineering interest are circuit breakers, which are a safety device to protect electrical circuits from damage caused by overcurrent.

Numerical simulations of electric arcs require a coupled solution of compressible gas dynamics and electromagnetic fields in complex geometries, including radiative heat transfer, rigid body motion, mesh morphing and/or robust remeshing, models for arc root voltage drop, evaporation and ablation, chemical reactions, structural mechanics at fast time scales, and so on.

In this webinar, we will shed light on aspects in the simulation process with a focus on modelling of radiative heat transfer.