NUMERICAL MODELING OF ELECTRIC ARCS

J. A. Bakken , L. Gu , H. L. Larsen , 
and V. G. Sevastyanenko

UDC 537.523.5

Thermal  plasmas generated by electric arc  discharges 
between  various types of electrodes or by plasmatrons 
have  many  well-established - and  numerous potential 
- applications  in  extractive  metallurgy,  materials 
processing and high temperature chemistry. The current 
is from below 100 A in welding arcs to above 100 kA in 
electric  arc  furnaces  (EAF)  for  steel-making  and 
submerged arc furnaces (SAF) for production of silicon 
alloys.  AC  as well as DC is used. To improve process 
understanding   and   equipment  design  a  number  of 
simulation models have been developed, reaching higher 
levels of sophistication as more computer capacity has 
become available. This report reviews the state-of-the
-art  of  arc  simulation and discusses some important 
problems  and  challenges  for  future  modelling work 
- in particular on high currents and AC operation. The 
perspective   is   the   metallurgical  and   chemical 
engineers'  demand  for  practical  simulation  models 
- not the physicist's very stringent approach.