Electric Field Analysis on Buffer Layer of HV XLPE Power Cable by Finite Element Method

In recent years, white defects in power cable buffer layer has been discovered many times around the world. It would be a hazard to electricity transmission if these defects are not detected and solved in time, finally resulting in a power outage. In this paper, the selection of a physics field and the building of a three-dimensional model on cable electric field simulation are mentioned and improved. The distribution of electric field was calculated with two factors: the gap between water-blocking tape and aluminum sheath, the conductivity of water-blocking tape. The results demonstrated that the existence of the gap increases the electric field intensity in the air layer. Increasing the conductivity of water-blocking tape is beneficial to reduce the electric field intensity. It was explained that white defects is closely related to the air discharge in buffer layer.