Model and simulation study of discharge channel during underwater Cu wire explosion

In order to research the underwater electrical wire explosion (UEWE) process, based on the specific action model and the dimensionless similarity parameter model, we proposed a modified model in order to give a more clear description of the UEWE. This model considered energy consumption of DPC's expansion, radiation, heat transfer and so on, then improved the existed specific action model. Furthermore, nonlinear circuit simulation was adopted to simulate the whole discharge process, including the heating process before breakdown and the plasma discharge process after breakdown. The results showed that, the relative errors of currents and voltage amplitudes of calculated and measured data under under-damped condition were 5.4% and 3.1%, respectively; while the relative errors of those under critical-damped condition were 11.3% and 8.7%, respectively. Hence, the results calculated by this model is consistent with the experimental results, and the model is superior to the dimensionless similarity parameter model.