Study of the Flow on No-Load Breaking of SF₆ Circuit Breaker Based on Lattice Boltzmann Method

Abstract In the simulating breaking of SF6 circuit breaker with the finite difference method and finite element method, there are some disadvantages such as a long calculation time and a complex calculation procedure. In this paper, a new method which is based on the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is presented to simulate the breaking process in an SF6 circuit breaker. And the model of nozzle arc is established by the lattice Boltzmann method. The flow in the arc-extinguishing chamber is calculated with the LBM. The pressure and velocity fields of the upstream and throat of the nozzle in the chamber are obtained by the simulation. Compared with the test data, they are good agreement. The results show the feasibility and correctness of the lattice Boltzmann method in studying the evolution of gas flow of nozzle during the breaking.