Plasma Simulation in STAR-CCM+ -- towards a modern software tool

1 Introduction
Electrical arcs and other forms of industrial plasmas have a large number of technical
applications, including circuit breakers, arc welding, and plasma torches. In spite of this, there
are no useful numerical simulations tools for arcs available on the market. Researchers are
forced to couple different codes, leading to simulations that are neither fast nor very robust.
Siemens PLM software has entered this market with their software STAR-CCM+. It contains a
state-of-the-art CFD solver with an integrated FE-based solver for the magnetic fields.
Moreover, it is able to cope with moving geometries and data interpolation between the two
solvers in a single software environment. The Computational Physics Group at the IET
Institute for Energy Technology at HSR University of Applied Sciences Rapperswil, has started
a collaboration with Siemens PLM software to develop STAR-CCM+ into an optimal tool for arc
simulations in industrial research.
The basic functionality for plasma simulations is already available in STAR-CCM+; our
collaboration is intended towards adding additional physical models and extending the user
interface for an easy and complete set up of arc simulations within one tool. We are currently
working on:
 Simple setup of moving contacts applicable to both solvers
 Implementation of arc root models through surface sources including a voltage drop in
the electromagnetic solver
 Implementation of flexible boundary conditions for radiation models and smart
averaging of the absorption spectrum
 Software testing with respect to academically as well as industrially relevant cases
The goal of the collaboration is to realize relevant modeling concepts for plasma simulations
into STAR-CCM+. Hence, an integrated and modern plasma simulation framework with
powerful CAD import, automatic mesher, and parallel solvers, will soon become available for
the plasma simulation community.
As an early adopter of this approach, we are keen to work with end users to challenge the new
tool with a variety of arc simulatons. We will be happy to check if your simulation requirements
are met by STAR-CCM+, and how to recreate your specific models in STAR-CCM+.
In the remainder we present simulation results of a model circuit breaker using STAR-CCM+.
Although a very simple simulation setup was used, we are eagerly moving towards more
complex and demanding settings that will be presented soon.

Roman Fuchs  [email protected]  T +41 55 222 43 40

HSR Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil  IET  Oberseestrasse 10  CH-8640 Rapperswil
[email protected]  www.iet.hsr.ch Page 1 of 7
 2 Example of a low-voltage circuit breaker simulation
We outline the geometry setup, the circuit model, the physics settings, and present results of
voltage and current curves.
2.1 Geometry
The model circuit breaker (cf. Figure 1) consists of two electrodes, a steel cylinder, and a
plastic enclosure. The simulation domain size is approximately 28 x 34 x 10 mm in x-y-z
directions. The upper electrode moves upwards with a speed of 5 𝑚/𝑠 while the lower
electrode is fixed.

Figure 1: Geometry of model circuit breaker.

2.2 Electric circuit model

A test circuit consisting of an AC voltage source and a resistor is attached to the circuit breaker
model (cf. Figure 2). The terminals A and B are connected to the upper and lower electrode,
respectively. The time-dependent arc resistance 𝑅𝑎𝑟𝑐 (𝑡) is evaluated at every timestep as the
arc voltage divided by the arc current:
𝑈𝑎𝑟𝑐 (𝑡)
𝑅𝑎𝑟𝑐 (𝑡) = .
𝐼𝑎𝑟𝑐 (𝑡)

Roman Fuchs  [email protected]  T +41 55 222 43 40

HSR Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil  IET  Oberseestrasse 10  CH-8640 Rapperswil
[email protected]  www.iet.hsr.ch Page 2 of 7
 Due to its simplicity, the electric circuit has been implemented by analytical formulas directly as
boundary conditions (see below). More complex circuits can be implemented in STAR-CCM+
using its circuit model.

A
+
100 V
50 Hz 3D Model
-
B

Figure 2: Electric test circuit.

2.3 Meshing and Data Mapping

As many other gas flow solvers, STAR-CCM+ is traditionally based on the finite volume
method (FVM) for its gas flow solvers. A finite element method (FEM) solver for the magnetic
vector potential has recently been added. While the FVM solvers support polyhedral and
tetrahedral grids, the FE magnetic potential solver only supports more traditional cell shapes,
tets, hexas, etc. Moreover, the gas flow requires higher resolution in the air domain than the
magnetic vector potential.
Therefore, the domain is discretized using two grids (cf. Figure 3): a finer polyhedral mesh with
prism layers for the solvers in FV formulation (gas flow and electric potential), and a coarser
tetrahedral mesh for the FE magnetic potential solver, both using the same geometry and
meshing environment. The blue surface indicate symmetry conditions, and the orange surface
represents pressure outlet conditions. The body contours are shown in red.
Data mapping between the meshes is available by data mappers inside STAR-CCM+:
selecting the quantities to be mapped as well as the source and target regions is supported in
the user interface. Table below summarizes the data mapping settings.
Quantity Mapped from … Mapped to …
Electric Current Density FV grid FE grid
Magnetic Flux Density FE grid FV grid

Roman Fuchs  [email protected]  T +41 55 222 43 40

HSR Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil  IET  Oberseestrasse 10  CH-8640 Rapperswil
[email protected]  www.iet.hsr.ch Page 3 of 7
 Figure 3: Polyhedral and tetrahedral grid. Solid geometry is outlined in red.

2.4 Physics settings

2.4.1 Gas model
For simplicity, the gas is modelled as an ideal gas and radiative heat losses are computed by a
net emission coefficient. STAR-CCM+ allows for real gas data that are functions of pressure
and temperature, i.e. ϕ(𝑝, 𝑇). A multi-band discrete ordinate method (DOM) is available for
radiation modelling. These functionalities have already been tested and will be used in
subsequent simulations. Turbulence has been neglected although a common set of turbulence
models is also available.
Coupling to the electrodynamic model is established by the electric conductivity (cf. Figure 4)
being a function of pressure and temperature, i.e. 𝜎 = 𝜎(𝑝, 𝑇), and the Lorentz force (𝐹⃗𝐿 = 𝑗⃗ ×
𝐵⃗⃗) as a momentum source for the gas flow. Electrode material data correspond to copper. The
plastic enclosure is modelled as insulating material. The steel cylinder has a relative magnetic
permeability of 𝜇𝑟 = 104 ; its electric conductivity is set to 𝜎 = 0 𝑆/𝑚, for instance due to an
insulating material coating the cylinder surface.
The timestep length is initially set to Δ𝑡 = 0.5 𝜇𝑠 and is set adaptively based on a CFL
condition. The maximum timestep length is 5 𝜇𝑠 because the domain is remeshed every 50𝜇𝑠.

Roman Fuchs  [email protected]  T +41 55 222 43 40

HSR Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil  IET  Oberseestrasse 10  CH-8640 Rapperswil
[email protected]  www.iet.hsr.ch Page 4 of 7
 Figure 4: Electric conductivity of air.

2.4.2 Boundary and initial conditions

Symmetry conditions are used on the xy-plane for all quantities. A pressure outlet condition is
specified in both x-directions. The gas is initially at rest and 300 K uniformly.
The electric circuit yields a voltage 𝑈(𝑡) = 𝑈0 (𝑡) − 𝑅 ⋅ 𝐼(𝑡) at the upper electrode where
𝑈0 (𝑡) = 100 cos(2𝜋𝑓𝑡) and 𝑓 = 50 𝐻𝑧. The resistance is set to 𝑅 = 0.5 Ω, and the current 𝐼(𝑡)
is evaluated at terminal B.
Arc ignition is modelled as a cylinder with 1 mm radius and conductivity 𝜎 = 100 𝑆/𝑚 located
centrally between the electrodes. Initial electrode distance is 1 mm.

2.5 Results
Figure 5 shows the voltage and current oscillograms of the arc (measured between the
terminals A and B), and the applied voltage to the electric circuit (i.e. the voltage source). Arc
resistance is shown in Figure 6. A video is available on our YouTube channel.
The initial arc resistance is 7 Ohm, arc voltage 87 V, and current 25 A. Ohmic heating then
yields to full gas breakdown in a few microseconds and the electrode gap is filled with hot and
conductive plasma; a minimum arc voltage of 5 V is observed. Subsequently, the arc contracts
and is pushed in (-x)-direction; a local maximum of 15 V is observed. After 100 µs, the arc is
located near the electrode edge and burns in fully across the electrode; the arc voltage has
dropped to 10 V. Subsequently, the arc voltage raises as it becomes elongated due to
electrode motion and Lorentz force. At 340 µs, the arc voltage has dropped to 32 V since a
major fraction of air between the lower exhaust holes is occupied with plasma. At 400 µs, the
arc voltage increases to 40 V since the arc has almost left the electrode contact surface and is

Roman Fuchs  [email protected]  T +41 55 222 43 40

HSR Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil  IET  Oberseestrasse 10  CH-8640 Rapperswil
[email protected]  www.iet.hsr.ch Page 5 of 7
 elongated further. Then arc voltage is increasing due to elongation by electrode motion, and
the arc burns near the steel cylinder surface. The arc is extinguished after 1.7 ms.

Figure 5: Voltage and current oscillograms.

Figure 6: Measured arc resistance.

Roman Fuchs  [email protected]  T +41 55 222 43 40

HSR Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil  IET  Oberseestrasse 10  CH-8640 Rapperswil
[email protected]  www.iet.hsr.ch Page 6 of 7
 Acknowledgement
We thank Dr. Paul Hilscher from Siemens PLM software for his extensive support and
providing plasma material data.

Contact address
Prof. Dr. Henrik Nordborg: [email protected]

Roman Fuchs  [email protected]  T +41 55 222 43 40

HSR Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil  IET  Oberseestrasse 10  CH-8640 Rapperswil
[email protected]  www.iet.hsr.ch Page 7 of 7