SPHERICAL BUBBLES IN A FLUID DIELECTRIC IN THE PRESENCE OF AN ELECTRIC-FIELD

Numerous experiments indicate that in most cases breakdown of a fluid dielectric precedes the formation of a weakly luminous region of reduced density near one of the electrodes, treated as a gas of microbubbles. Analysis of the available models of growth of a prebreakdown bubble reveals their incompleteness, particularly due to not including processes of heat and mass transfer. The basic reasons for microbubble formation on electrodes are analyzed in the present study, and a system of equations is formulated, describing the dynamics of a spherically symmetric bubble in an electric field.