Model for ice wet growth on composite insulator and its experimental validation

The indigenous and foreign scholars have conducted considerable research on the electrical characteristics of ice-covered insulators, but there is a lack of research on the growth process of ice accretion on insulators. On the basis of the heat and mass balance during icing, a complete wet-growth icing model, including the ice accretion on the insulator surface and the growth of icicles is established. In this model, the loss of water film on the insulator surface and the water supply for icicles are taken into account, and rebuild the icicle growing equations according to the water mass balance. The effect of flow-field change due to the growth of icicles is considered and analysed. The simulation results indicate that the growth of icicles and ice thickness are affected by climate parameters and the flow-field change. Low temperature and high wind speed can increase the growing rate of icicles and the ice thickness and decrease the time of icicle bridging. The change of flow field leads to changes in water mass balance and slows the progress of icing on the insulator surface. Through a series of icing tests on insulator FXBW-110/100, it is found that the experimental results are in good agreement with those obtained by the numerical simulation method.