A finite element with statistical analysis study to investigate the electrical performance of composite insulators under water droplet impact

Composite insulators demonstrate superior electrical performance in contrast to standard insulators. Nevertheless, the deterioration of composite insulator and the challenges in identifying defects are the primary drawbacks of these insulators. This study investigates the effect of water droplets on the electrical behavior of composite insulators, which are widely used in high-voltage applications. Using COMSOL software, a Finite Element Model (FEM) was developed to simulate the electric field distribution on the surface of a composite insulator in the presence of water droplets. The results indicate that the existence of water droplets increases the electric field intensity by approximately 33.33% when the number of droplets increases from two to six. The simulations also reveal that water droplets significantly increase the electric field's intensity, which affects the electric field and potential distribution on the insulator's surface. Furthermore, the conductivity of water droplets was found to have a negligible impact on the electric field distribution along the insulator. To systematically evaluate the influence of various factors, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed in combination with Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to analyze the interactions between water droplet number, pollution, and applied voltage. The statistical analysis demonstrated that the maximum electric field intensity increased by nearly 38.3% as water droplet conductivity rose from low to high levels. RSM was used to generate a second-order polynomial model that describes the relationship between these factors and the electrical performance of the insulator, allowing for the identification of significant trends and interactions. The findings provide valuable insights for the design and development of composite insulators that are more resilient to environmental factors, enhancing their overall electrical performance.