Experimental verification of a model of arc deformation and cutoff in a transverse magnetic field

I. M. Kovalev

Abstract
On the basis of experimental material obtained by means of high-speed motion-picture photography and synchronous oscillography of the process of arc deformation and cutoff in a transverse magnetic field it is shown that, if the external characteristics of the power sources are the same, arc cutoff is determined by the nature of the deformation of the arc plasma flows. Since the arc cutoff effect is local in character and is caused by the anisotropy of the properties in the axial and radial directions of the arc flows, it follows that 1) the rates of arc cutoff in a transverse magnetic field considerably exceed the axisymmetric cutoff rates; 2) in both the magnetic and axisymmetric cases the plasma flows continue to exist after total cessation of the current.