IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v16y2023i13p4932-d1178697.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Free and Wire-Guided Spark Discharges in Water: Pre-Breakdown Energy Losses and Generated Pressure Impulses

Author

Listed:
  • Yifan Chai

    (High Voltage Technologies Group, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, 204 George St., Glasgow G1 1XW, UK)

  • Igor V. Timoshkin

    (High Voltage Technologies Group, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, 204 George St., Glasgow G1 1XW, UK)

  • Mark P. Wilson

    (High Voltage Technologies Group, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, 204 George St., Glasgow G1 1XW, UK)

  • Martin J. Given

    (High Voltage Technologies Group, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, 204 George St., Glasgow G1 1XW, UK)

  • Scott J. MacGregor

    (High Voltage Technologies Group, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, 204 George St., Glasgow G1 1XW, UK)

Abstract

Impulsive underwater discharges have been investigated for many decades, yet the complex pre-breakdown processes that underpin their development are not fully understood. Higher pre-breakdown energy losses may lead to significant reduction in the magnitude and intensity of the pressure waves generated by expanding post-breakdown plasma channels. Thus, it is important to characterize these losses for different discharge types and to identify approaches to their reduction. The present paper analyses thermal pre-breakdown processes in the case of free path and wire-guided discharges in water: fast joule heating of a small volume of water at the high-voltage electrode and joule heating and the melting of the wire, respectively. The energy required for joule heating of the water and metallic wire have been obtained from thermal models, analysed and compared with the experimental pre-breakdown energy losses. Pressure impulses generated by free path and by wire-guided underwater discharges have also been investigated. It was shown that wire-guided discharges support the formation of longer plasma channels better than free path underwater discharges for the same energy available per discharge. This results in stronger pressure impulses developed by underwater wire-guided discharges. It has been shown that the pressure magnitude in the case of both discharge types is inversely proportional to the observation distance which is a characteristic of a spherical acoustic wave.

Suggested Citation

  • Yifan Chai & Igor V. Timoshkin & Mark P. Wilson & Martin J. Given & Scott J. MacGregor, 2023. "Free and Wire-Guided Spark Discharges in Water: Pre-Breakdown Energy Losses and Generated Pressure Impulses," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-18, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:13:p:4932-:d:1178697
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/13/4932/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/13/4932/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Spence, Jennifer & Buttsworth, David & Carter, Brad, 2022. "Energy content, bulk density, and the latent heat of vaporisation characteristics of abattoir paunch waste," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    2. Zhen Han & Xiaobing Zhang & Bing Yan & Liang Qiao & Zhihua Li & Eric Campos, 2022. "Methods on the Determination of the Circuit Parameters in an Underwater Spark Discharge," Mathematical Problems in Engineering, Hindawi, vol. 2022, pages 1-9, May.
    3. Kim, Daehoon & Kim, Gyoungman & Kim, Donghui & Baek, Hwanjo, 2017. "Experimental and numerical investigation of thermal properties of cement-based grouts used for vertical ground heat exchanger," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 260-267.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Daehoon Kim & Seokhoon Oh, 2018. "Optimizing the Design of a Vertical Ground Heat Exchanger: Measurement of the Thermal Properties of Bentonite-Based Grout and Numerical Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-15, July.
    2. Lee, Seokjae & Park, Sangwoo & Won, Jongmuk & Choi, Hangseok, 2021. "Influential factors on thermal performance of energy slabs equipped with an insulation layer," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 823-834.
    3. Ogunleye, Oluwaseun & Singh, Rao Martand & Cecinato, Francesco & Chan Choi, Jung, 2020. "Effect of intermittent operation on the thermal efficiency of energy tunnels under varying tunnel air temperature," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 2646-2658.
    4. Hossein Javadi & Seyed Soheil Mousavi Ajarostaghi & Marc A. Rosen & Mohsen Pourfallah, 2018. "A Comprehensive Review of Backfill Materials and Their Effects on Ground Heat Exchanger Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-22, November.
    5. Davide Menegazzo & Giulia Lombardo & Sergio Bobbo & Michele De Carli & Laura Fedele, 2022. "State of the Art, Perspective and Obstacles of Ground-Source Heat Pump Technology in the European Building Sector: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-25, April.
    6. Javadi, Hossein & Mousavi Ajarostaghi, Seyed Soheil & Rosen, Marc A. & Pourfallah, Mohsen, 2019. "Performance of ground heat exchangers: A comprehensive review of recent advances," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 207-233.
    7. Cardoso de Freitas Murari, Milena & de Hollanda Cavalcanti Tsuha, Cristina & Loveridge, Fleur, 2022. "Investigation on the thermal response of steel pipe energy piles with different backfill materials," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 44-61.
    8. Yang, Zhaoming & Liu, Zhe & Zhou, Jing & Song, Chaofan & Xiang, Qi & He, Qian & Hu, Jingjing & Faber, Michael H. & Zio, Enrico & Li, Zhenlin & Su, Huai & Zhang, Jinjun, 2023. "A graph neural network (GNN) method for assigning gas calorific values to natural gas pipeline networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:13:p:4932-:d:1178697. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.