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To develop a propagation model of a local discharge on a wet polluted insulator, the authors have examined the propagation characteristics and the propagation conditions of the local discharge on an electrolytic solution simulating a wet polluted insulator surface. To calculate the relation between the propagation length of the local discharge and the time required for the propagation, an electric field distribution near the tip of the local discharge must be known. In this paper, the authors have examined a voltage distribution in an electrolytic solution to obtain the electric field. As a result, the shape of the contacting surface between the local discharge and the solution is obtained under impulse voltage. A calculation of the voltage distribution is performed with the shape. A comparison between calculated values and measured values of the distribution is given. Index Terms--Local discharge, Wet polluted insulator, Electrolytic solution, Voltage distribution.

An electrolytic solution surface was used to simulate the surface of wet polluted insulators. A local discharge propagates on the solution surface when an impulse voltage is applied to the surface. The intensity of photoemission from the tip of the local discharge, the propagation velocity of the local discharge, and the discharge current were measured simultaneously. It was found that the propagation velocity increases with the photoemission intensity and the resistivity of the solution, and the influence of the air pressure and the applied voltage waveform on the velocity is very small. Furthermore, it was deduced that the ratio of the current through the local discharge tip to the total discharge current is not influenced by the local discharge length and the applied voltage waveform.