Electric Field Analysis

Sivaji Chakravorti

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351831161
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Mathematik
• Subtopic: Angewandte Mathematik

Electric Field Analysis is both a student-friendly textbook and a valuable tool for engineers and physicists engaged in the design work of high-voltage insulation systems. The text begins by introducing the physical and mathematical fundamentals of electric fields, presenting problems from power and dielectric engineering to show how the theories are put into practice. The book then describes various techniques for electric field analysis and their significance in the validation of numerically computed results, as well as:

• Discusses finite difference, finite element, charge simulation, and surface charge simulation methods for the numerical computation of electric fields
• Provides case studies for electric field distribution in a cable termination, around a post insulator, in a condenser bushing, and around a gas-insulated substation (GIS) spacer
• Explores numerical field calculation for electric field optimization, demonstrating contour correction and examining the application of artificial neural networks
• Explains how high-voltage field optimization studies are carried out to meet the desired engineering needs

Electric Field Analysis is accompanied by an easy-to-use yet comprehensive software for electric field computation. The software, along with a wealth of supporting content, is available for download with qualifying course adoption.

1

Fundamentals of Electric Field

ABSTRACT Leaving aside nuclear interactions, there are two non-contact forces that act at a distance, namely, gravitational and electric forces. Gravitational force is dominant at large distances whereas electric forces are dominant at shorter distances. The root cause of electric forces is electric charge. The effect of electric charge is spread over the entire space around it, but it falls rapidly with distance. The presence of an electric field is detected by observing the force on a charged body located within the field region. Electric field intensity is obtained by dividing the electric force by the magnitude of the test charge. To have an electric field parameter, which is independent of the charge of the test body, electric potential is introduced in the analysis, such that electric field intensity, which is a vector quantity, is the spatial derivative of electric potential, which is a scalar quantity. For a given material, electric field intensity depends on the electric flux density, which in turn depends on the amount of source charges present in the field region. For the purpose of electric field analysis, several types of charge configurations are considered, such as point, line, ring and disc charges.

1.1 Introduction

When I was a student of third semester in engineering degree course, I had an unassuming yet a man of profound knowledge as our teacher who taught us electric field theory. In the very first class, he asked us a simple question: ‘Could you name just one thing which is the cause of electric field?’ Then he went on to explain the answer to that question, which is ‘Electric Charge’. It struck a chord somewhere within me, and I explored further on the effects of electric charge. From that day onwards, I was hooked to electric charge.

To quote the legendary physicist, Richard Feynman, ‘Observation, reason, and experiment make up what we call the scientific method’. This is precisely true for electric field theory. Students often ask me how I discussed so many things about electric field when nobody has seen electric field. Yes, it is true that electric field cannot be directly seen. But observations on ph...