A CHARGE SIMULATION METHOD FOR THE CALCULATION OF HIGH VOLTAGE FIELDS

H. Singer H. Steinbigler P. Weiss

Technical University, Munich, Germany
ABSTRACT satisfactory accuracy, and therefore digital com-
putation is necessary. The method is now illus-
A numerical method for the computation of trated with suitable examples chosen for the com-
electrostatic fields is described. The basis of putation of electrostatic fields with one or more
the method is the use of fictitious line charges dielectrics.
as particular solutions of Laplace's and Poisson's
equations. Details are given of a digital computer BASIC PRINCIPLE
program developed for field calculations by means
of this method, and its application is illustrated For the calculation of electrostatic fields,
by practical examples involving two- and three- the distributed charge on the surface of conduc-
dimensional geometries. tors is replaced by n line charges arranged inside
the conductors. In order to determine the magni-
INTRODUCTION tude of these charges, n points on the surface of
the conductors (contour points) are chosen, and it
The calculation of electric fields requires is required that at any of these points the poten-
the solution of Laplace's and Poisson's equation tial resulting from the superposition of the
with boundary conditions satisfied. This can be charges is equal to the conductor potential Oc:
done either by analytical or numerical methods. n
In many instances, physical systems are so com- E p - oc
plex that analytical solutions are difficult or . j i
impossible, and hence numerical methods are com-
monly used for engineering applications. The a-
vailable numerical methods are normally based on where Qj is the discrete charge and pi the asso-
difference or integral concepts. Many papers have
been published on solution of Laplace's equations
by finite difference techniques2.-9. The other ap- The application of this equation to the n
proach to the solution is the use of integrals of contour points leads to a system of n linear equa-
Laplace's or Poisson's equation either by using tions for the n charges:
discrete charges9- .14 or by dividigg the electrode [p]
surfaceinto subsections of chargesl
*1 . The meth- c
od described in this paper is based on the concept
of discrete charges2*..22. It proved to be suc- [ Then it must be checked whether the calcu-
cessful for many high-voltage field problems. It lated set of charges fits the boundary conditions.
is very simple and it is applicable to any sys- For instance the potential in a number of check
tem that includes one or more homogeneous media. A points located on the boundary can be calculated.
special advantage of this method is the good ap- The difference between these potentials and the
plicability to three-dimensional fields without given boundary potential is a measure for the ac-
axial symmetry and to space charge problems. curacy of the simulation. Further check possibili-
ties will be described in a later section. If the
In this method, the potentials of fictitious coincidence between the actual conductor surface
line charges are taken as particular solutions of and the corresponding equipotential surface is
Laplace's and Poisson's equations. Physically the sufficiently accurate, the electric fields at any
distributed surface charges are replaced by dis- point can be calculated analytically by superposi-
crete fictitious line charges. These charges are tion.
placed outside the space in which the field is to
be computed. The magnitudes of these charges have In many cases the electrostatic field between
to be calculated so that their integrated effect a system of conductors and an infinite plane with
satisfies the boundary conditions exactly at a se- ground potential is of interest. This plane can be
lected number of points on the boundary. As the taken into account by the introduction of image
potentials due to these charges satisfy Laplace's charges.
or Poisson's equation inside the space under con-
sideration, the solution is unique inside that The basic principle described above is well
space.. known in field theory . Together with suitable
ways of discretisation, this known principle forms
Because of its discrete nature the charge the basis of electric field computation in two-
simulation method requires the selection and and three- dimensional systems as presented in the
placement of a large number of charges to achieve following sections.
TWO-DIMENSIONAL FIELDS
The simulation of the charge on the surface
of a conductor by line charges of infinite length
is a known principle for the calculation of the e-
lectrostatic fields of circular cylinders. Par-
ticularly for- the calculation of bundle conductors
some methods were developed on this basislO- *13.
T 74 085-7, recommended and approved by the IEEE Transmission & Dis-
tribution Committee of the IEEE Power Engineering Society for presentation at Tedsrtsto fsraecagsb
n
the IEEE PES Winter Meeting, New York, N.Y., January 27-February 1, 1974.Tedcrtstoofufaehrgsbin
Manuscript submitted August 28, 1973; made available for printing December finite line charges also can be applied to the
4, 1973. calculation of the two-dimensional field of arbi-

1660
trarily shaped conductors. As an example, the
maximum gradient of the electrostatic field be-
tween a rounded strip conductor and an earthed 5
plane is calculated by the use of infinite line 4- 4
charges perpendicular to the x-y plane (Fig. 1).
The arrangement of the charges and the contour
points in the rounded part of the conductor is
shown in Fig. lb. Aspects for the proper arrange-
ment of contour points and charges are given in a 2
later section.
The potential coefficients of infinite line
charges are defined by the expression23 o s
1 /(y + yj)2 + ( x - xj)2 0 5 10 15 20cm
p - .ln,
i 271E 1( y) x -x )2
Fig. 2. Maximum gradient Emax related to the aver-
with the permittivity e and the notation of age gradient U/s of tht field between a
Fig. lb. This expression also includes the parts strip conductor and a plane as a function
of image charges for the representation of the of the distance s (Fig. 1).
earthed plane. Since the line charges are of in-
finite length, the quantities to be determined are FIELDS WITH AXIAL SYMMETRY
charges per unit length Aj. After the check of the
boundary conditions, the x- and y-components of For fields with axial symmetry, the applica-
the field strength at any point (x,y) can be cal- tion of toroidal line charges (ring charges) cen-
culated by means of the following relations: tred on the axis of symetry is a very effective
way of discretisation24. Straight line charges of
finite length located along the axis of symmetry
n are also used. Both types of charges have a con-
A. x-x x-x. stant charge density. This charge simulation tech-
Ex ' i[ a nique is illustrated by the arrangement of ring
.1 22e ((y ) t 2 2 2J and straight line charges shown in Fig. 3 for the
+vx-x
-yxj (y+y)2+(x-s ) calculation of a sphere with a cylindrical shank.

n rA z
J[ y-y y+y.Z2
.' Fig. - 2 (!he
. I 1axim gStraight Line charge
2jrs
tweenhe(xonutoraxdthplan222- (yoynt
Yy)2(_ x-x Zj I
P (r,z)
The result of the calculation is shown in
Fig. 2. The maximum gradient Ema in the field be- ring charge
tween the conductor and the plane(point A, Fig.1a)
is plotted as a function of the distance s. It is Zi
related to the average gradient U/s, where U is
the voltage between the conductor and ground. r

Fig. 3. Arrangement of charges for the calculation

ty of a sphere with a cylindrical shank.
el
-t- T Y /: (xi . yj ) Using the notation of Fig. 3, the potential
PP1xy)
( coefficients p; and the components of the field
- 2 -- 10 X *.t 1*@ /
strength Er ani E. can be calculated
lowing expressions20'23;
with the fol-
image charges are again
used to represent the earthed infinite plane.
A
Ring charges:
a) b)b
] .x 1 2 [ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~K(kj)
K(k)
i* ine charge
x contour point
E a1 2Of

Fig. 1. Dimensions and arrangement of charges for Er - R 1 %r2-r2+(z-zj)2].E(ki)-P1.K(ki)

the calculation of the field between a r - 2
strip conductor and a plane; dimensions in 3in1a1 1
cm. [r~-r2+(z+z )2] .E(k2)-jt3*K(k2)
a 2.P2 }
1661
 n
E _Q; 2 { (
(I) ( iz+) E(12)
1
4= r
ot1.131 a2.p2 1002
4000
ar1 -
(r+rj)2+(z-.zj)2 a2 - W(r+rjX)2+(z+zj)2 I 30*

-*/(r-rj)2+(z-z.)2 ' P2 - (rr)2+(+)2 , 1650

2000
A
100

k1 a c1 k 2 02 610I
with the complete elliptic integrals of the first _ _ i _ _ _
kind K(k) and second kind E(k). d
Straight line charges:
Fig. 4. Sphere-gap enclosed by an earthed cage;
(z32-z+71).(z.1+z+72) dimensions in cm.
p;
1
lnlii -
-z;l(zi ++2
47M(Z J2-zjl) (z j_z+( ).(z +Z+6 ) 'Fig.5 shows an electrode arrangement used for
J j2 1 2) the shielding of a high voltage apparatus. The po-
tentials of the grading rings are fixed at 75, 50
n
and 25% of the potential Xbc -U of the top elec-
E_. _____Q _
-
j2 _ji
z z
+ trode. The result of the calculation is shown in
iI 4,r( -(z-)
32 J1 r*7'1 r*J 1 arrows5 is
Fig. forequivalent
a voltage toU the NV. The length
X 1 magnitude of the of the
field
z +z -z +z ~ strength, the dash-dotted circle indicates a field
JA _ J2 1 strength of 5 kV/cm. The maximum field strength on
r.7 r. j the top electrode amounts to 5.6 kV/cm. Only ring
n
r
*;r2
r-3 2 charges were used for this example.

J-1 4=(z j2- zj1) 71 31 72 2 1u1m 0

't1 w / +(j2_Z)2
r , 72 " ( 2U~0 20000
- r 2+(z 2-z)2 , 52 ' r2+(zjj+z)2 . 200

50 0 --E- - 75%
The application of ring charges and straight 5 75%
line charges is demonstrated by two examples. In
the first example, the influence of an earthed
-201
cage on the field of a sphere-gap is investigated. - - 50%
Fig. 4 shows a 2 m sphere-gap surrounded by a 750 r k-°oo&-- -I 1000
closed cylindrical cage of 16.5 m height. The di- l l
tributed charge on the sphere and on the cage is 500
replaced by ring charges, the charge on the shanks 25%
by straight line charges. In Table I the increase
a E of the maximum field strength at a gap spacing 25011 z
of 1 m is shown as a function of the diameter d of
the cage. 4 E is related to the maximum field t it
strength without a cage at this gap spacing.
Fig. 5. Electrode arrangement for the shielding of
a high voltage apparatus; dimensions in cm
JE ( 3)3.5 1.0 0.6 O
(The cylindrical dielectric is used for
calculations in a later section).
d (in) 10 20 50 O
_________________________ HREE DIMENSIONAL FIELDS WITHOUT AXIAL SYMMETRY
The charge simulation method can be applied
Table I. Increase of the maximum field strength in with great advantage to the calculation of three-
a sphere-gap by an earthed cage (Fig. 4). dimensional fields without axial symmetry. The
principle of this method is explained by a simple

1662
 example, a rod-rod gap with a trigger electrode with D (z-z )2+r+r2 and as the Legendre
(Fig.
6).
function of the second kind of t-e
order )m -1/2, a
The original axial symmetry -of the field of so-called torus function.The symbols r. and z are
the two rods disappears because of the presence of the sae ones as in the case of constint cha4ges.
the trigger electrode. Within the half spheres of
the rods and the conical part of the trigger elec- In a similar way as it is described before, a
trode ring type charges are arranged in a similar system of linear equotions is established and
way to that used for geometries with axial symme- solved for A
try. The rings, however, have a variable charge
density. For the cylindrical parts of the rods and The field strength components, obtained by
the trigger electrode, straight line charges are differentiation of the potential function with
situated parallel to the axis of symmetry of the respect to r,v and z, are
electrodes on a circle on the axis. To consider A
the asymmetry with reasonable accuracy it is suf- E . _ _ - L. cos;t,)
ficient to arrange 3 or 4 lines around the circum- ur 5r 2nE
ference in the cross section of each electrode.

Wo _ { D
2r;AL z(2== 2_ 2r: (2r2-D2).
~
D2I +(-)
yr a~~~~~~~~r
r--2rr' D4 >z2ru @
2

\ @ 8-G
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ LLZ2rrD D2r ~ 2?
~ ~ ~

2
-I1/ of ,&-z-. r - 2e r *~ -Dos)2 2rr i
@~~~~~~~~~1
j *4rJr(Z-Z~~~~~~Y
j [r) +(j ) 2rr; .-t(r,
aqiW'
1
6fi
arrngeentcros sctin E
/PL
V p3COS (jVI~). iA4r2r2siscalcu
27rr r ofan Qiecio
tQIsZfeldstrngt
2 2 2

orrangement co 3e tio n 2rr P -r r

known at first. For this reason the distribution Tofr

is divided into a constant part and several cc-
sinusoidal (or sinusoidal) harmonics with unknown In principle it is also possible to arrange
peak values Aa similary to a Fourier analysis. several rings with constant charge distribution
Thisa charge strifution is a function of the ro- instead of a single ring with variable chhrge
tatiQn angle a shown in Fig. 6 and is given by distribution. Fig. 7 shcws an example of this way
e rof discretisation, where the centers of the ring
abcharges are placed on a circle centered on the
knon
A(a)i a A * cospa) * ais of the electrode. Such an arrangement cannot
armnicswit
inuoida rsinuoidl konIbe used in the case of toroidal electrodes.
p0
nh denotes the nusber of ha onics.
The ale ofsh is not calculated by fulfill- f t
ing an orthogonalitwy condition as in the case of a d w theJ r
Fourier analysis, but by giving several contour /
points with known potential values around the
electrodes.The total number (nH+1) of the constant
charge (p 0) and the harmonics (p- 1..nH) must Fig.7. Ring coharges of constant charge density for
be equal to the nubber of contour points 'around the simulation of three-dimensional fields.
the circumference.
The effectiveness of the method for three-di-
The potential coefficient of a periodically mensional electric fields is shown in two practi-
variable ring charge due to the s-th harmonic in cal field problems of high voltage engineering:
any point (r,y,z) of a cylindrical coordinate sys- the influence of adjacent conductors on the field
tem is (without image charges)21r25 of a sphere-gap, and the field dstribution near
the bundle of a three-phase overhead-line under
1h D2 the influence of the tower.
i/S 2rnE 0r QPI(2rrj3 * cosW t)The first example is shown in Fig. 8, namely
1663
2m- diameter spheres at gap spacing of s - O.5... As the second example, the influence of the
1.5 m. The computed field strengths were compared tower window on the field near the middle phase of
with those of two isolated spheres, which can be a 735-kV three-phase overhead-line is calculated.
calculated analytically. In this way the influence Fig.9 shows the dimensions of the tower and the 4-
of connecting tubes was investigated. The results bundle conductor27. For the computation, the tower
of these computations with the field strengths at was slightly simplified, assuming particular cone
the upper and lower sphere have been represented contours, each of them with an axial symmetry as
in Table II. For both arrangements the maxinmum shown in Fig. 9. The cross arm was approximated by
field strength occurs at the high voltage sphere; a cylinder. These simplifications are allowable,
this field strength is reduced by the influence of as a good accuracy of results is needed only near
the connecting tube, whereas the field at the low- the bundle conductors.
er sphere increases. The greater the distance be-
tween the spheres the greater is the influence of The calculations show that the maximum field
the connecting tube. While the variation amounts strength occurs on the upper conductors of the
to 0.4 % for 0.5 m gap spacing, for 1.5 m gap middle bundle at the moment when this phase
spacing the difference is around 3 %. Indeed for a reaches the maximum voltage. The maximum field
sphere diameter of 2 m this distance is just strength is about 8 % higher than in a distance of
beyond the range, which is foreseen by IEC for a more than 20 m from the tower (Fig. 10).
measuring sphere-gap. For each distance the influ-
ence on the field is greater on the earthed sphere
than on the high voltage sphere. More detailed
calculations concerning the influence of ad'cent Z
conductors have been done for rod-plane gaps 426J--A
-tOS9 4 ^-1074e

300 1200 -

300 7~~~~~00
600~~~~~~~~~~1

; t 4~~~.08 single-circuit towe; dimensions in

Fig. 9. 735-kV 0--
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~cm
( y is the in-line distance from the
Fig. 8 Sphere-gap with connecting tubes8 and tower).
earthed plane; dimensions in cm.

|| DeviBtiondof thetietdstrength
arrangement i SI°i.|8 W

150 1.909 -2.7 % 2 -

100 1.517 -1.7 % 0 - , .3
50 1.199 -0.4 % 51052m
Distancy fromthetower
'Earthed sphere
High150
volta esphere 1.209
~ ~ ~+3.4 %~ 166
100 1.201 +1.9 % Fig. 10. Maximum deviation of the field strengths
50 1.146 +0.4 % at the middle bundle near the tower
___________ from the field strengths without tower
Tb IIFe faos'=. (arrangement of Fig. 9).
Table(c) E'vUsofa sphere-gati
Field factors
 ELECTRIC FIELDS WITH SPACE CHARGES the conditions for the potential gradients along
the channel together with the charges within the
By means of the charge simulation method it electrode. Thus the matrix of the potential coef-
is also possible to calculate electric fields ficients [p] is enlarged.
with space charges. These calculations are mainly
used to investigate the physical principles of CALCULATION OF TWO-DIELECTRIC ARRANGEMENTS
breakdown mechanism. There are two possibilities:
known or unknown space charge distribution. In a dielectric, dipoles are re-aligned by
the electric field. In the interior, they compen-
The first case may be illustrated by an ex- sate each other; but, on the surface of the die-
ample 28involving a cloud of ions travelling in a lectric they have the effect of a net surface
field . The ion cloud has known charge density charge30"1 .Therefore, in the digital computation
and can be approximated by point or ring charges. of electrodes, a dielectric boundary can be simu-
Ring charges can be used with greater advantage lated by discrete charges. There are only two im-
as they cover a greater area than a point charge, portant differences from the previously considered
and therefore fewer ring charges than point situations:
charges, are needed for the simulation of an ion (
cloud. v~~~~~~~~~~~~1)
In general the dielectric boundary does not
correspond to an equipotential surface.
Because of the field-induced motion of the (2) It must be possible to calculate the electric
ions, the calculation is time-dependent, and the field on b o t h sides of the dielectric
ion motion must be considered by a step-by-step boundary; this is necessary for the formation
procedure. After each step the field strengths at of the system of equations.
the places of the space charges are computed anew,
and all the space charges are shifted according to As shown in Fig. 11, a simple example with a
the amplitude and the direction of the field small number of discrete charges is chosen to ex-
strengths. This calculation procedure is continued plain the method. At the electrode, there are nE
until the ions reach the opposing electrode. As contour points and charges, nED of them are on
the space charges are known, it is only necessary the side of the dielectric (No.1) and nE-nED are
to calculate the charges required for simulating on the side of the air (No.2,3). These nE charges
the electrodes. The potentials of the contour are valid for the calculation of potentials and
points result from field strengths in both media, i.e. for the die-
lectric and for the air. At the dielectric bounda-
[P] [Q] + [PBI[JQ. ] [1PcI ry there are nB contour points (No.4,5) with nB
charges in the air (No.4,5) - valid for the die-
with [p.] as matrix of the potential coefficients lectric - and nB charges in the dielectric (No.6,
of the space charges and [Q.] as vector of the 7) - valid for the air. In total there are nc =
space charges. As [p5] and [Qs1 are known they can n+ nB
B (=5) contour points and nq nE + 2 nB
be multiplied and brought to the right side of the (=7) charges.
equation system and subtracted from the potentials
[0c] . In this way the right side becomes a vec-
tor again.
[p ] Q[] [cl -1[P] [ Q] x contour point .3

vector *charge
3he
i

Thus it is not necessary to enlarge the matrix of *4 2

the potential coefficients and the calculation of
the charges within the electrodes is done in the *5 1
same way as without space charges. The potential
of any point in the field is then calculated by electrode
n n5 07
Pk * Qk + 2 Psk sk -AIR- -ODIELECTRIC-
k=1 k-1
no denotes the number of the space charges, n the Fig. 11. Discrete charges at an electrode and at a
number of contour points and charges which simula- dielectric boundary.
te the electrodes. The field strength is calcu-
lated in a corresponding way. The system of equations required for determi-
nation of the simulation charges is formed by de-
If on the other hand the space charge distri- fining the boundary conditions which must be sat-
bution is unknown, the space charges have to be isfied:-
calculated from physical conditions. Thio case is
illustrated by fields associated with discharge (i) the potential of the contour points of the
chanels, e.g. the simulation of a "leader" chan- lectro4e on the side of the dielectric
ne129 in the breakdown of a long air gap. Experi- (No1)
mental data suggest that a reasonable physical m c
model is given by the assumption that a constant
potential gradient occurs along the channel, for
instance 1 kV/cm. Assuming this, the "leader"' is -nE nE +nB
considered as a quasi-electrode. At i-ts boundary, .? + sR=
some contour points are given (with different po- j=1 i i j-nE+1l P fc
tentials), and inside as many charges as contvourE
points are arranged. Straight line charges are (i...3) (4...5)
most suitable for the simulation of long channels.
These unknown charges are determined by fulfilling

1665
(2) it must be also 0c on the side of the air
(No.2,3), E Et. a
Et ' *
nE C 140
-1 Q" % Pi + P+ +1 % Q * pj'a .=~cJ /B Cr 2.2 .1T E
(1.3) ~~(6.-7) 14
(3) the potential of the contour points on the di- Cr 6.0
electric boundary is uinkiown, but for each
point it must be the same in the air ( OA) and
in the dielectric (ID). Thus for the air-die-
lectric boundary A - D, and hence it may be
shown that22 32. 9

nE nE+2nB nE nE +n B

i- ii%P
jP -
+. 21 -pJ -~ Il P3
%P pip i~q -pi0 V
1 .'nE+nB+l i-1
(1 5) (673 (1*~~~~~~~~1-3) ...... ..(4--5)0.6
or simplified, Et. tangential fieLd strength
nE+nB nE+2nB U - voltage
a. Length of the dieLectric boundary (1000cm)
- sa +1
J'nE+lJ LJmn+nB++1
E~~~~~~~(-7
jn PJ
0.2-
z- height at the dielectric

(4) pj has been defined as the coefficient consid-

ering the effect of the charge j on the poten- °
tial at a given contour point. In the sane way 0 200 40 600 800 1000cm
fj is defined as the contribution of the
charge j to that component of the field vec- Fig. 12. Normalised tangential field strength Et'
tor, which is vertical to the dielectric along the dielectric boundary of the ar-
boundary in a given contour point. Then, at rangement shown in Fig. 5.
the contour points of the dielectric boundary,
the normal field strength in the air must be
Er times greater than in the dielectric, that
is, tC CEr E'
nE nE + n.B nE nE+2nB 1 2.19
Cr (EQ% fj + i: Qj.fj)a Q..f.÷+J~~~ Q.f.l _ 2 2.62
j-1 j=nE+1 j=1 Jin +n+l 3 2.86
(1 -.3) (4..5) (1 ..3) (6..7) electrod 200 z 5
Or, y 10 | 7
73.31
r~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~
l 3.46<
nE nEn B
nE+2nIB Mr E
J-1 j-nE+l J-nE+nB+l
(1--3) (4.-5) (6..7)
Thus nE + 2 * nE C(- 7 ) inear
l equations are Fig. 13. Sphere electrode with Table III.
given for the calculation of the same number of diplectric slab. Field
of Fig.factors
13.
unknown charges.
As an example a dielectric cylinder is in- It is also of interest to mention that sys-
serted into- the system shown in Fig 5 (broken tematic application of this method led to the dis-
lines). Fig.12 shows the tangential field strength covery of a new effect in electrostatic field
at the dielectric boundary with the dielectric conceRing electrodes partially embedded in
constant cr as a parameter. a dielectric .
Another example is given in Fig. 13- which MPPLICATION ASPECTS
shows a sphere electrode with a dielectric slab. oh ot efcieapiaino h
The results of the calculatiozi are presented in metod the questio offaesuitabe arrliatingmnofth
T!able III. The method described above also was ap- ejhdthehares sndiontourapointsiso iragmportance
pliedt thieldn calecultione
of Vthesfiengstrengthrma A practical criterion is obtained by the defini-
erg3.iedn lcrdso FYtsigtasom tion of an assignment factor fa = a2/a1 with -the
distance a1 between two successive contour points
1666
and the distance a2 between a contour point and necessary for the calculation of the examples
the corresponding charge (Fig. 14a). For curved described in the previous sections. For the com-
contours the distances between the charges should putations a digital computer TR 440 was used,
not be too small, and this necessitates the formu- which is comparable with a digital computer CDC
lation of a curvature criterion (radius q ) for 6600. The electrode arrangement shown in Fig. 13
such charges. Based on the geometric mean of a1 was calculated with 15 charges for the electrode
and a2 the following expression with the notation and 40 charges for the dielectric. Without the di-
of Fig.14 b was derived: electric the computation time amounted to 4 s,
with the dielectric to 13 s. The arrangement shown
a-fr1)2 +a a1r
i/o a
-r
in Fig. 4 was calculated with 58 charges, 42 of
them were used for the spheres and the shanks and
16 for the cage. The computation of this example
qi is valid for convex curvature,qo for concave needed 21 s. The amount of computation for three-
curvature. For dielectric boundaries, both cases dimensional fields is higher. For the computation
must be used accordingly. of the three-phase overhead-line shown in Fig.9, a
total of 259 charges was used, 172 for the simu-
lation of conductors and the ground wires and 87
for the tower. The computation time amounted to
/ 594s.
-_
- . j- { so A comparison with the finite difference method
l - -.4< shows that the charge simulation method leads to
r a) >9-t- b) I-/ - -a-7_1
2
- - ~ shorter computation times in many geometries used
in high voltage technology. This is a consequence
F . 0*1 _ ~-\~-t,,r of the fact that in high voltage apparatus curved
surfaces are generally preferred to sharp edges.
As an example, the electric field of a sphere-gap
x contour point . charge similar to that shown in Fig. 4 was calculated with
both methods. The computation time needed for the
charge simulation method was only 25 % of the com-
Fig.14.To the definition of the assignment factor. putation time of that for the finite difference
method. The error of the field strength between
Experience shows that the assignment factor the spheres was less than 1 % in both cases. A
fa should be between 1.0 and 2.0. The accuracy of successive overrelaxation technique495 was used
the calculation depends on the choice of the as- in the finite difference method.
signment factor and the density of the contour
points. In the areas of interest, the accuracy There are further advantages of the charge
can be improved by an increase of the density of simulation method compared with the finite differ-
the contour points. The following criteria can ence method, such as
be used to check the accuracy of the simulation:
(1) potential of various points on the surface of (i) the field strength can be calculated analyti-
the electrode
(2) continuity of the potential on the dielectric (2) it is not necessary that the field region is
boundary limited by a closed boundary;
(3) continuity of the tangential component of the (3) the computation of three-dimensional fields
field strength on the dielectric boundary without symmetry is possible with reasonable
(4) relation of the normal components of the field amount of computation.
strength on the dielectric boundary.
An additional check is the derivative of the po- CONCLUSIONS
tential gradient perpendicular to the surface of C
the electrode, especially for areas of the elec- As shown in this paper the charge simulation
trode with a small radius of curvature. This de- met ho wn itale waper the solutionimulatio
rivative divided by the gradient must be equal to method is a suitable way for the solution of many
the curvature at this point35. A measure for the electric practical field problems. The presented
accuracy of the calculation is the "potential examples give an idea of the variety of possible
errot" in various check points on the surface of applications of this method. Of course further
electrode between two contour points. This
the
the el error"de i's defined
"potential ro fin as the di nce be-
as the difference be-
developments are inherent. So the detailed compu-
tation of arrangements with space charges is an
inestgapctfr nimovetof hs
tween the known potential of the electrode and the interesting aspect for an improvement of this
computed potential. Experience shows that the er- method.
ror of the gradient is up to ten times greater
than the corresponding potential error. Therefore
the potential error should be less than 1 0/00 in
an area of the electrode if a field strength accu-
racy of 1 % is desired in this area. The practical The authors acknowledge with grateful thanks
limit for the accuracy of the simulation of elec- the keen interest shown in this work by Prof. H.
trodes is given by the manufacturing tolerance of Prinz, Director of the Institute of High Voltage
conductors. In the same way the accuracy of the Technology and Power Plants, Munich.
simulation of dielectrics has its practical limit
in the accuracy of the determination of dielectric REFERENCES
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TH-IIEDFFRNEMTO
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1667
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11 A. S. Timascheff: Field Patterns of Bundle Wechselspannung. Bull. SEV 63(1972), pp.574-
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ties. Trans. AIEE pt.3, 80(1961), pp.590-597 34 P. WeiBs: Feldstlrkeeffekte bei Zweistoffdi-
12 M. S. Abou-Seada, E. Nasser: Digital Computer elektrika. Bull. SEV 63(1972), pp. 584-588
Calculation of the Potential and its Gradi- 35 J. Spielrein: Geometrisches zur elektrischen
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14 M. S. Abou- Seada, E. Nasser: Digital Computer Discussion
Calculation of the Potential and Field of a L. 0. Barthold (Power Technologies, Inc., Schenectady, N. Y. 12301):
Rod Gap. Proc. IEEE 56(1968), pp. 813-820 The authors are to be commended for the significant work they have
15 J. Higgins, D. K. Reitan: Calculation of the done and for a fine documentation of that work for the benefit of
Capacitance of a Circular Annulus by the Meth_ otherslEEE members.
od of Subareas. Trans. AIEE,T70(195) pt.1, 70(1951 - It would be interesting to hear the authors' comments on the
9-93 relative complexity and time required in setting up a problem using
pp. 9-933 the method they have developed, as compared with more traditional
16 A. Kessler, A. Vlcek, 0. Zinke: Methoden zur electrolytic tank approaches. It would seem that reducing a problem
Bestimmung von Kapazitaten unter besonderer to a form amenable to digital computation might be as great or greater
BerUcksichtigung der TeilflAchenmethode. Arch. than construction of models where a convenient electrolytic tank was
thought been given to the application of digitizers to
elektr. Ubertrag. 16(1962), pp.365-380
elektr. ttbertrag.161962
P365-380simplify theHasproblem
available.
descriptions for digital solution?
17 R. F. Harrington: Matrix Methods for Field
Problems. Proc. IEEE 55(1967), pp. 136-149 Manuscript received February 6, 1974.
18 D.Pfluigel: Berechnung von Kapazitaten und Fel-
dern zwischen Leitern mit geschichtetem Dielek- H. Singer, H. Steinbigler, and P. Weiss: The authors wish to thank Mr.
trikum nach der Teilflichenmethode.Zeitschrift Barthold for his comments and for his discussion of the paper.
fiir angewandte Physik 23(1967), pp.86-89 The authors are aware of the fact that not only the computation
time but'also the time necessary to prepare a problem for the comp-
19 R. F. Harrington: Field Computation by Moment utation must be regarded in order to judge a computation method with
Methods. Mc Millan, New York 1968 respect to its economy. Therefore emphasis was laid on the develop-
20 H. Steinbigler: Anfangs3feldstarken und Ausnut- ment of an auxiliary program which calculates the coordinates of con-
zungsfaktoren Arotationssyf etrischer Elektro- tour points for the case that the contour consists of straight lines or
denanordnungen in Luft. Doctoral Thesis TH parts of circles. The coordinates of the charges are calculated auto-
matically for all parts of the contour. The application of a digitizer
Munich 1969 would reduce the time of preparation too, but we did not have the
21 H. Singer: Das Hochspannungsfeld von Gitter- possibility until now to use such a device for the purpose of electric
elektroden. Doctoral Thesis, TH Munich 1969 field calculation.
A comparison with the electrolytic tank depends on the kind of
22 P.WeiB: Rotationssymmetrische Zweistoffdielek- the field problem. In some cases the analogue method may have ad-
trika. Doctoral Thesis TU Munich 1972 vantages in comparison with the field computation, if an automatic
23 F. Ollendorff: -Potentialfelder der Elektro- tank is available. But in general the computation method needs shorter
tehi*Srne,Bri
techni Spriger, erlin1932 ordinates of times
preparation thanpoints
contour and charges ofarea model,
the construction especially
determined if the co-
automatically.
24 H. Steinbigler: Digitale Berechnung elektri- For some cases -for instance the tower shown in filg. 9 of the paper -
scher Felder. ETZ-A 90(1969), pp. 663-666 the application of the electrolytic tank method may lead to difficulties,
especially with respect to the accuracy.
25 H. Singer: Das elektrische Feld vron Polycon-
elektroden. Bull. SEV 63(1972), pp. 579-583 Manuscript received April 22, 1974.
1668