Contact area at the interface between a discharge and an electrolytic solution

In order to simulate the propagation characteristics of a local discharge on an electrolytic solution under an impulse voltage application, it is necessary to know the contact area at the interface between the discharge and the solution surface and the electric field distribution along the surface. In this study, a calculation method of the contact area is proposed. The outline of the area was assumed a circle and its radius was calculated from the applied voltage, electrode-fall, current density at the interface and the resistance of the solution part. The calculation results agreed with the values estimated from the Schlieren photographs reported before. Furthermore, the potential distribution along the surface was obtained using the calculated radius