Numerical treatment of floating conductors based on the traditional finite element formulation

Main Article Content

D. J. Rincon
E. Aguilera
J. C. Chacón

Abstract

A method to model a conductor with undefined potential (commonly known as floating conductor), is sometimes required in the electric field analysis. This paper presentsand compares the main methods to deal with such issue, based on the traditional finite element formulation. The purpose is to guide the reader in the selection of a method under the following criteria: Accuracy, implementation and simplicity. The accuracy of each method was evaluated against the analytic solution of the capacitance matrix for a system of parallel cylindrical conductors. Based on the results of the simulations, the characteristics of the methods and this paper’s criteria, a qualification of each method performance is done. Additionally, particular cases in which a specific method could be the most suitable option to deal with floating conductors, are analyzed. In general, the Virtual Permittivity method exhibits the best performance. However, it is shown that the method’s accuracy is influenced by the rounding errors. This paper proposes an additional consideration on the method formulation in order to verify the accuracy of the results.

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How to Cite
Rincon, D. J., Aguilera, E., & Chacón, J. C. (2018). Numerical treatment of floating conductors based on the traditional finite element formulation. Advanced Electromagnetics, 7(3), 46–55. https://doi.org/10.7716/aem.v7i3.720
Section
Research Articles
Author Biographies

D. J. Rincon, Universidad Industrial de Santander

Graduated (2013) and get the MS degree in Electrical Engineering (2017) at the Universidad Industrial de Santander. 

E. Aguilera, Universidad Industrial de Santander

Electronic Engineering graduated in 1995.  He worked at  École Nationale Supérieure Des Télécommunications de Bretagne France in 2010 under the direction of professor Michel Ney. He earned his Ph. D. in Engineering in 2012 at the Universidad de los Andes, Colombia. Nowadays, he works in Numerical Methods Applied to Electromagnetism as assistant professor at the Engineering School of Electric, Electronics and Telecommunication (E3T, UIS).

J. C. Chacón, Universidad Industrial de Santander

Earned his B.Sc and M.Eng. degrees in Electrical Engineering in 1986 at Polytechnic State Academy of Belarus, Minsk. Nowadays, he works as a High Voltage and Electromagnetic Theory professor associated to the Engineering School of Electric, Electronics and Telecommunication (E3T) and the Electric Power Systems Research Group (GISEL) at UIS.

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