Flame spread over twin electrical wires with applied DC electric fields

The effect of DC electric field on the characteristics of flame spread over polyethylene-insulated twin electrical wires was studied by varying wire gap (S) and voltage (VDC). Under an applied electric field, the flame spread rate (FSR), flame width, leaning direction of the interacting twin flames varied substantially with varying the voltage and wire gap. The flame spread rate was initially larger for the wire with negative voltage (spreading flame with negative charge; SF−) than the wire with positive voltage (SF+), but the two eventually became the same in the developed region when a quasi-steady state was reached. The FSR behavior could be classified into two regimes; twin flame spread (regime I) and single flame spread (regime II) after the extinction of SF+. Under regime I, three sub-regimes were identified depending on the wire gap and voltage. For the twin flame spread, the flame spread rate initially decreased with increasing voltage as the flame leaned toward the burnt wire. As the two flames interacted, the flame spread rate increased because of the ionic wind effect, and eventually decreased because of the loss of molten PE mass and the electrospray phenomenon. In regime II after the extinction of SF+, the single flame spread showed a transient behavior since the influences of electric field from burnt and unburned wire sections of SF+ wire varied with flame spread. When the voltage was increased even further, SF– was extinguished by streamer generation and, at excessive voltages, an electrical short occurred. The flame spread rates for twin flame spread were best correlated with the electric field intensity in the form of |VDC|0.91/S0.72.