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COMPEL - The international journal for computation and

mathematics in electrical and electronic engineering


FINITE-ELEMENT SOLUTION OF STEADY-STATE SKIN-EFFECT PROBLEMS IN STRAIGHT
FLAT CONDUCTORS
G. COSTACHE

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G. COSTACHE, (1983),"FINITE-ELEMENT SOLUTION OF STEADY-STATE SKIN-EFFECT
PROBLEMS IN STRAIGHT FLAT CONDUCTORS", COMPEL - The international journal for
computation and mathematics in electrical and electronic engineering, Vol. 2 Iss 2 pp. 35 - 39
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COMPELThe International Journal for Computation and Mathematics in Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Vol. 2, No. 2. 35-39 1983 BOOLE PRESS LIMITED

FINITE-ELEMENT SOLUTION OF STEADY-STATE SKIN-EFFECT


PROBLEMS IN STRAIGHT FLAT CONDUCTORS
G. COSTACHE

Downloaded by UERJ At 12:03 13 July 2015 (PT)

University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Abstract. Using an integrodifferential approach to steady-state skin effect problems, the current density
distribution in straight flat conductors is solved by the finite-element method. The approach takes into
account a combination of one-dimensional finite elements corresponding to the flat conductors and
triangular finite elements for the remaining domain outside conductors. The results obtained for a flat
conductor placed inside a ferromagnetic medium are compared with analytical solutions provided by finite
Fourier transforms.
As a final output, besides current density distribution, one can calculate parameters useful to designers
such a a.c. resistance and reactance of the straight flat conductors.

1. INTRODUCTION
The problems of skin effect in electrical machines and transformers are very
important, especially now when new design concepts and complicated geometries are
necessary for a better adjustment to the new technology. Many papers have been
produced on these topics and an excellent list of references is given in [1].
In this paper, the finite-element solution of steady-state skin-effect problems in
straight flat conductors inside ferromagnetic materials is presented. The approach
uses an integrodifferential finite element formulation [1, 2] in terms of vector
magnetic potential which for the straight conductors has only one component.
The application selected to illustrate the method is a fiat conductor placed in a
ferromagnetic medium with a winding made of continuous sheets. The results
obtained for current density by the finite-element method were compared with
analytical results provided by finite Fourier transform [3].
The finite-element approach has the advantage that it can be applied to any
arbitrary shape of the conductor, the method not being restricted by the geometry as
usually happens when dealing with analytical techniques.

2. FORMULATION OF THE PROBLEM


The geometry selected to be studied represents the skin-effect problems for a
transformer having primary windings made of sheets. A cross section of the
transformer window is shown in Fig. 1.
For simplicity, let us consider one flat conductor representing the low voltage
winding and carrying the a.c. current i(t) =
sin t.
In this model, the high voltage winding of the transformer is considered an
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G. Coslache, Finite-element solution of steady-state skin-effect problems

equipotential line for the vector magnetic potential. The magnetic material of the
transformer core is assumed to be of infinite magnetic permeability in order to
simplify the boundary conditions of the vector magnetic potential.
As the straight flat conductor of width g is considered infinitely long, the magnetic
vector potential A(, x, y) and the complex current density J(, y) have only
components on the z direction.
The system of equations to be solved in terms of the vector magnetic potential is
[2]

-2A = 0

(2)

where S c is the cross section of the straight conductor.


Equation (1) corresponds to the conductor region and eq. (2) to the rest of the
transformer window.
The boundary conditions satisfied by the vector magnetic potential are [3]
on the ferromagnetic wals
A =0

on the conducting wall

(3)
(4)

G. Costache, Finite-element solution of steady-state skin-effect problems

37

3. FINITE-ELEMENT APPROACH
The general functional associated with eqs. (1) and (2) for the boundary conditions
(3) and (4) is [2]

where

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S being the total domain.


By considering 2b g, the straight conductor can be assumed thin with a current
density depending on y direction only. With this assumption, the functional (5)
becomes

In eq. (7), (A)2 is the integrand of two integrals: first integral extends over the
region S (divided in triangular finite elements), while the second integral corresponds to the flat conductor (divided in linear finite elements).
For the region outside the straight conductor, the vector magnetic potential can be
approximated in each triangular finite element by a linear combination of interpolation polynomials as follows [1]:

38

G. Costache, Finite-element solution of steady-state skin-effect problems

For the elements located on the straight conductor only one-dimensional elements
have been used. Their generic trial function is given by

A possible division into triangular and linear finite elements is shown in Fig. 2.
The average value of the vector magnetic potential can be calculated as

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where NS is the total number of linear finite elements, NC is the total number of
vertices located on the linear elements, Le is the length of a generic linear element
and i are coefficients obtained by integration along each element.
The trial functions (8) and (9) and the average value (10) are replaced into the
functional and the derivatives with respect to node potentials are set to zero. As a
result of this operation, the final system of equations is

where NTR is the total number of triangular finite elements and N is the total
number of vertices where the vector magnetic potential is unknown. The above
system of complex equations has the following general form:
[S1 + j 0 S 2 ] A = B

(12)

which can be easily solved.


Using the values obtained for the magnetic vector potential, one can obtain the
current density in the straight conductor [2]:

The solution obtained by the finite-element method has been compared with an
analytical solution established by a finite Fourier transform [3] for the following
geometrical dimensions: h = 0.52 m, b = 0.5 m, g = 0.001 m, L1 = 0.0109 m and L2 =
0.052 m.
The results of the normalized current density for a frequency of 60 Hz are given in
Table 1.
Once the vector magnetic potential is calculated, other field quantities, such as
magnetic field H and electric field E, can be evaluated. They can be used to calculate

G. Costache, Finite-element solution of steady-slate skin-effect problems

39

Table 1
Normalized current densities obtained by finite element
method and finite Fourier transform

y/h

Finite Element

Fourier transform

0.000
0.192
0.384
0.576
0.768
0.869
0.961

0.9558 1.0123 1.0110 1.0089 1.0007 0.9687 +


0.9307 +

0.9613 - j0.0461
1.0117 - j0.0448
0.0101 - j0.0437
1.0091 - j0.0378
1.0008 + j0.0234
0.9691 + j0.1197
0.9315 + j0.1610

j0.0421
j0.0432
j0.0431
j0.0362
j0.0242
j0.1134
j0.1590

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the design parameters a.c. resistance and a.c. reactance per unit length, defined by

In eqs. (14) and (15) the integral of the complex Poynting vector is taken through a
cylindrical surface which contains the unit length of the straight conductor.
4. CONCLUSIONS
The integrodifferential finite-element method has been applied to the skin-effect
problem in straight conductors situated inside ferromagnetic media. The results
obtained by this method are in agreement with those obtained by other methods,
such as finite Fourier transform.
A similar formulation can be used for the transient skin-effect problems in fiat
conductors, in which situation the final solution is obtained by solving a differential
system of equations, instead of an algebraic one.
REFERENCES
[1] A. K. Konrad, Integrodifferential finite element formulation of two-dimensional steady-state skineffect problems, IEEE Trans. Magn. MAG-18(1) (1982) 284-292.
[2] G. Costache, Calculation of eddy-currents and skin-effect in nonmagnetic conductors by the finite
element method, Rev. Roum. Sci. Techn. Electrotechn. & Energ. 21(3) (1976) 357-363.
[3] G. Costache, Skin-effect in straight flat conductors placed in a ferromagnetic medium, Rev. Roum.
Sci. Techn. Electrotechn. & Energ. 21(2) (1976) 175-180.

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