HVDC insulation boundary conditions for modeling and simulation

Insulator boundaries like electrode contacts, interfaces, and surfaces play decisive roles for the electric field distributions in high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) insulation. Well-known examples are charging effects at injecting and blocking electrode contacts, and at interfaces or surfaces. Reliable modeling of boundaries and interfaces poses a challenge and can be crucial for the quality of the resulting field distributions in HVDC equipment, but is in practice often put in second place of priority in simulation models. This paper emphasizes the macroscopic boundary conditions and related issues for electrical transport and illustrates their relevance with simple examples. Importance is attached to an appropriate compromise between physical generality and practical usability for simulations in the development process of HVDC insulation systems.