Oil-paper insulation is used within most of high voltage direct current（HVDC） converter transformers.Partial discharge（PD） in oil-paper insulation is a major reason for the development of internal faults in HVDC converter transformer,while PDs in oil-paper insulation mainly occur in terms of gas cavity discharges.There are few study results on the development characteristics of partial discharges in oil-paper insulation and dissolved gases in oils of HVDC converter transformers.Based on a gas cavity discharge model of oil-paper insulation,the present study investigates the development characteristics of partial discharges under AC-DC combined voltages and emphatically examines the variation characteristics of dissolved gases in the discharge development process.Experiment and analysis results show that the characteristics of partial discharges and dissolved gases in oils under AC-DC combined voltages are appreciably different with those under AC voltage.These results provide theoretical support for further research on partial discharges and on dissolved gases of other internal insulating defects and are helpful for the fault diagnosis of HVDC converter transformers.