INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NUMERICAL MODELLING : ELECTRONIC NETWORKS, DEVICES AND FIELDS,

Vol. 9, 125-143 (1996)

FINITE ELEMENT ITERATIVE SOLUTION OF SKIN EFFECT

PROBLEMS IN OPEN BOUNDARIES
G. AlELLO, S. ALFONZETTl, S. COCO AND N. SALERNO

Dipanimenio Elelirico, Eleitronico e Sistemistico, Universila' di Catania, Viale A. Doria, 6, 95125 Catania, Italy

SUMMARY
The paper proposes an iterative procedure, called current iteration, for the finite element solution of two-dimen-
sional steady-state skin effect problems in open boundaries. In the procedure a fietitious boundary is introduced
enclosing all the eonductors. On it. the magnetic vector potential is first guessed and then iteratively updated
according to the current density computed in the conductors. Conditions are obtained implying convergence to
the exact solution of tbe unbounded problem whatever the initial guess. The choice of the fietitious boundary
and the selection of the relaxation parameter in such a way that computational efficiency is obtained are discussed.
The greatest advantage of the procedure is its ease of implementation in a pre-existing finite element code for
bounded problems. An axisymmetric version of the procedure is also described since implementation only
involves minor changes as compared with the 2-D one. Examples are provided in order to clarify and validate
the procedure and compare ii with other techniques.

I. INTRODUCTION

As is well known the finite element method (FEM) notably suffers when field problems are set up
in unbounded domains. In electromagnetics this situation is very common because the systems to be
analysed are often constituted of conductors embedded in an unbound homogeneous dielectric
medium.
The use of standard FEM codes to solve such problems is still possible if the original unbounded
domain is truncated by placing an artificial boundary at a certain distance from the conductors, where
the Intensity of the field is negligible so that homogeneous conditions are assumed to hold. However,
the extension of the dielectric region to be diseretized is generally very large if results of reasonable
accuracy are pursued. In this case the computational effort involved may not be tolerable, especially
for three-dimensional problems.
For this reason various techniques are used in conjunction with FEM in order to make treatment
of the boundlessness of the problem less onerous. Ballooning, infinite elements, asymptotic boundary
conditions (ABC), mixed FEM/BEM (boundary element method) approaches and co-ordinate trans-
formations can all be adopted to model the open region effects. In ballooning.' successive expansions
of an artificial boundary into the exterior region result in a recursive updating of the original FEM
matrix. Infinite element techniques^ are based on special shape functions which simulate a decaying
behaviour of the solution at infinity. In ABC techniques^ an artificial boundary is considered on which
boundary conditions are approximated asymptotically; the advantage is that in this way the structure
of the FEM matrix remains unchanged; however, for a correct application of this technique the arti-
ficial boundary must be placed at a certain distance from the sources, otherwise the asymptotic esti-
mate is no longer accurate. Hybrid FEM/BEM is a very widespread technique,"* '' in which a closed
surface separates an interior region where an EEM discretization is set up from an unbounded homo-
geneous exterior region. The solution of the FEM equation is made possible by adding new equations
deriving from integral constraints holding on the closed surface. The effectiveness of this technique
relies on proper treatment of the singularities present in the integral on the boundary. Co-ordinate
transformation techniques"* are based on bijectlve mappings by which unbounded domains can be
mapped onto bounded ones; the technique can easily be applied if the exterior region is source-free
and leads to accurate solutions, obtained with acceptable computational effort.
A common characteristic of almost all the above-mentioned techniques is that accuracy is obtained
at the expense of complication. In fact a combination of FEM with one of the above approaches
leads to more elaborate procedures for the construction of the global algebraic system matrix and a

CCC 0894-3370/96/020125-19 Received 30 March 1995

© 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Revised 30 August 1995
126 G. AIELLO ET AL.

Structural modification of its classical FEM form; in this way the well-known computational advan-
tages of standard FEM solutions are practically lost. A deeper discussion of the relevant advantages
and limitations of such techniques can be found in References 9 and 10.
Recently, in References 11 and 12, the authors devised an iterative procedure based on the use of
a standard FEM code for bounded problems, called current iteration. The procedure is intended to
solve two-dimensional steady-state skin effect problems for systems of conductors with possibly
inhomogeneous conductivity and reluctivity, surrounded by a homogeneous unbounded dielectric
medium. In the procedure a fictitious boundary is introduced enclosing all the conductors. On it, the
magnetic vector potential is first guessed and then iteratively updated according to the current density
computed in the conductors. This procedure allows a very simple software implementation starting
from a standard FEM code for bounded problems. A similar procedure has also been successfully
applied to the computation of unbounded electrostatic fields.'^
In this paper a complete description of the current iteration procedure is provided. Moreover con-
ditions are derived implying convergence to the exact solution of the unbounded problem whatever
the initial guess. Relaxation is introduced in order to speed up convergence. An experimental study
of the convergence characteristics is carried out for a simple two-wire line, from which general criteria
are derived for optimal choice of the fictitious boundary and the relaxation parameter. Extensions to
axisymmetric and/or non-linear cases are also illustrated. Tn order to clarify and validate the procedure,
examples are given, for some of which solutions are available in literature. Comparisons with other
techniques are also offered.

2. FINITE ELEMENT EQUATIONS

Consider the system depicted in Figure 1 in which a set of A'c parallel straight conductors C^ (/; - 1,
..., Nc) of arbitrary cross-sections 5^ is embedded in a homogeneous dielectric medium with vacuum
reluctivity v,,. The conductors have possibly inhomogeneous reluctivity v and conductivity CT; for
some of them the conductivity can be zero, thus allowing non-conducting permeable regions to be
modelled. The conductors carry a given set of measurable total currents 4 which are sinusoidal with
the same angular frequency w. In the above conductors the current density is not known due to skin
and proximity effects. Moreover, a given set of skin-effect free conductors, magnetically homo-
geneous with vacuum and carrying assigned (distributed or lumped) current densities may be present.
In the following these currents are referred to as external sources. The whole set of currents is globally
balanced (zero total current). The working frequency is supposed to be sufficiently low so that dis-
placement currents are negligible.
By selecting a Cartesian reference frame having the z-axis parallel to the conductors, the magnetic
vector potential A is only z-directed and in the steady-state case satisfies the following

V-(vVA) -iojoiA-A,) =- - i in S,,k= I, ..., A'c (D

where a^ is the mean conductivity of the ^h conductor,

1
(2)

Figure I. System of conductors enclosed by a fictitious boundary

 SKIN EFFECT PROBLEMS 127

and where A^ is defined as

^ \ (3)

Note that the values A^, although constant, are unknown, so that equations (1) are in effect inte-
gro-differential.
In the unbounded dielectric medium S^ the magnetic vector potential satisfies the Laplace equation:

V^A = 0 in 5d (4)

Since the currents are balanced, in solving equations (1) and (4) it is assumed that the potential
A is zero at infinity.
In order to calculate the magnetic field inside the conductors C^ and in their proximity, a bounded
domain is considered by introducing a fictitious boundary Bp enclosing all the conductors C* but
leaving the external sources, if any, outside (see the dotted line in Figure 1). At this point no hypoth-
esis is made about the shape and the position of Bp. Its choice ranges from a single closed curve, at
varying distances from the conductors, to several closed curves, each one, for example, enclosing a
single conductor or, at most, coinciding with the boundaries B*. of the conductors themselves.
By discretizing the bounded domain by means of Lagrangian finite elements and applying the
Galerkin method, the following algebraic system is obtained;'*

[M][A] = [ D o ] - [ M , ] l A p ] (5)

where [A] and [Ap] are the vectors of the unknown values of the magnetic vector potential in the
nodes on and inside B^, respectively. [M] and [Mp] are global FEM matrices depending on the
geometrical discretization and material properties; [Do] is the part of the known-term vector due to
the currents /^. Note that, even if an integral term is present in (1), the global algebraic system (5)
can still be assembled with a per-element algorithm.'^
Equation (5) alone is not sufficient to solve the problem because it only allows [A] to be obtained
once the correct [Ap] is known. On the other hand, if an incorrect guess is made for [ Ap] the resulting
[A] will be affected by a systematic error. In order to solve the unbounded problem, it is thus
necessary to derive another equation relating [A] to [Ap]. This is illustrated in the next Section.

3. INTEGRAL CONSTRAINT EQUATIONS

Suppose that the magnetic vector potential at all the internal and boundary nodes is known. Then its
value at a point Pp belonging to Bp can be checked for congruence with respect to the value obtained
by adding the contributions due to the currents 4 and external sources

= A,,,(Pp)-h2]A,{Pp) (6)

Two approaches can be pursued to express the contribution A^{Pp), as explained in the following.
If the Ath conductor is magnetically homogeneous with respect to the surrounding dielectric medium
{that is, if the reluctivity is uniformly v^ = l/fXfy in the conductor), its contribution can be com-
puted as'^

(7)

where J is the current density within the hh conductor given by

(7 /(.
P e S, (8)
128 G. AIELLO ET Al.

and G is the two-dimensional Green function,

G(P,Pp) = - ^ I n r p p ^ (9)

in which rpp^ is the distance between P and Pp.

If, within the generic finite element E, inside the ^ h conductor, the potential is approximated as

(10)

where a,, are the shape functions and A,, are the values of the potential in the A', nodes of the element
(the subscript n has a local meaning here), then the current density can be expressed as

(11)

where / „ are the integrals of the shape functions in the finite element E^ and where, for the sake of
simplicity, the inhomogeneous conductivity has been assumed to be piece-wise constant, so that
u-const =(T, in E^.
By virtue of (11), equation (7) can be put in the form

(12)

where:

^0 = ^ ^ fM)8o (13)

K =-JWO-,/Xog,, (14)

(15)

with

G(P,P,)d5 (16)

a„(P)G(P,Pp)d5 (17)

Tn the Appendix some notes on the numerical computation of such integral coefficients are given.
An alternative approach to the computation of At,{Vy) exploits the Laplacian behaviour of the
magnetic vector potential outside the conductors, by computing the curvilinear integral,'**

G(P,Pp) - A(P) ds (18)

where B* is the boundary of the Aih conductor and n is the unit vector normal to B^, oriented outwards
from the conductor (towards Bp). In the EEM approximation this integral is evaluated as
 SKIN EFFECT PROBLEMS 129

(19)

where E^ is the set of elements having a side S lying on B^ and external to the conductor, and where
the coefficients /i'" are given by

,20)

If the boundary of the ^ h conductor (partially) coincides with Bp, the set E,, in (19) is formed with
the elements internal to the conductor and the coefficients h'l are altered by the factor -^J^LQ'^ (see
the Appendix for the numerical evaluations of the coefficients /?'"). A generalization of (18) is
obtained by replacing B^ with any arbitrary curve enclosing the kx\i conductor. In this case it is
convenient to select this curve in such a way that it is constituted of element sides only. The contri-
butions of several conductors to A(Pp) can obviously be obtained by using a single curve enclos-
ing them.
The two approaches cannot always be applied. For magnetically inhomogeneous conductors
(including non-conducting permeable regions) the first approach is not applicable and the second one
must be used. In the case in which both these approaches are applicable, one can select the more
convenient one, for example taking into account the number of nodes involved in the computation.
When all the contributions (12) and (19) have been collected, the resulting expression has the form

A(PP)=AO + 2 M . (2!)
n

where the contributions of the external sources, computed similarly to (7), have been included in AQ.
The subscript n is now global, its values indicating the nodes of the elements involved in the above
computations; since these nodes are a subset of the whole set of nodes, in matricia! form one can write

[Ap] = [Apol + [Hj[A] + lHp]tAp] (22)

where [H] and [Hp] are matrices in which null columns appear for the nodes not involved in the
computation. If all the nodes appearing in (21) are internal, the last term in (22) disappears since
matrix [Hp] is zero.

4. SOLUTION OE THE PROBLEM

Equations (5) and (22) can be assembled together to form the global algebraic system

M Mp A
(23)
- H U H, A,-

where [U] is the unit matrix of order A^p. Since this system is unsymmetric and rather dense, direct
solvers are appropriate to obtain a one-step solution.'^
Alternatively the system can be solved efficiently in an iterative way as described below. Starting
from an initial estimate [A^"'] of the Dirichlet condition on Bp (for example a homogeneous one)
a first solution to equation (5) is easily obtained. Of course, this solution is generally erroneous and
thus does not satisfy constraint (22). A better estimate of the true solution may be obtained by
changing the Dirichlet condition on Bp according to (22). The procedure continues until convergence
takes place. Since convergence on the fictitious boundary assures convergence over the whole domain,
the convergence indicator e can be conveniently restricted to Bp, as, for example, by setting

e = - — y L41'^" - Ai," / A^" (24)

130 G. AIELLO ET AL.

where Np is the number of nodes belonging to Bp and i indicates the iteration step.
Computational efficiency can be reached if the implementation takes full advantage of the follow-
ing features:
(i) Since the FE mesh does not change during iterations, all the arrays relevant to the procedure,
computed at its start, also remain unchanged; the computing time required to update the data
in view of the next step is thus negligible.
(ii) Since a standard FE problem is set up at each step, equation (5) can be solved by means of
very efficient solver algorithms, exploiting the symmetry of matrix [M]. Moreover if an iterat-
ive solver is used, finding the solution from an initial one, the solver time at the ith step
decreases if the (/-l)th solution is used as the initial one.
(iii) Greater convergence speed is achieved if a suitable overrelaxation is employed, as described
in the next Section. Moreover, the speed is further increased if the initial guess for the Dirichlet
condition on Bp is chosen closer to the expected one (a good choice is [Af.**'] = lApo])-
(iv) By suitably placing the fictitious boundary around the conductors, small extensions of the
domain can be obtained. The distance for which convergence takes place in a few iterations
is very short with respect to that necessary to find an acceptable solution by other methods,
such as truncation and asymptotic boundary conditions. Moreover, if the fictitious boundary
is constituted by several closed curves, each one enclosing a conductor, the domain is decom-
posed into A'c pieces and the global FEM system (5) is partitionable into ^Vc independent
subsystems, so the solving time drastically decreases.^**

These features make the current iteration procedure competitive with respect to other techniques as
far as computing time is concerned. However, the greatest advantage of the iterative procedure is its
easy implementation in a pre-existing code for bounded problems because only two routines, comput-
ing h„ and e, need be developed. Note that the procedure could also be used in connection with not-
open (commercial) codes, by implementing the same routines in an external postprocessing program;
in this case, however, the resulting computing time may be higher, because some of the above items
are not implementabie.

5. CONDITIONS FOR CONVERGENCE

In this Section conditions will be derived implying convergence of the procedure to the exact solution
of the unbounded problem whatever the initial guess. To this aim the exact values (in the FE
approximation) of the magnetic vector potential in the unbounded problem will be denoted by stars.
The derivation starts by relating the initial guess [A^"'] for the Dirichlet condition on Bp to the
unknown true one [ A | ] by means of an error vector lAA^^'I,

[AiP'] = IA^] + [AAl?'I (25)

This relation is only formal since both terms on the right side are obviously unknown. Using this
relation and solving equation (5) for the vector [A], we get the solution at the 0th step.

[A'"'] = IM]-'[D,,] - [M]-"[Mp][An - IMr'IMpllAAiP'] (26)

in which the first two terms give, by definition, the exact solution,

[A*] = IM]-'[Do] - [Mr'lMpKA^l (27)

whereas the last one represents the solution error,

[AA'**'] =-[M]-'[Mp][AA^'"] (28)

Starting from this solution, the new guess for the Dirichlet condition on Bp is computed as

(29)
 SKIN EFFECT PROBLEMS 131

where 7 is a real relaxation parameter (0 < 7 1)- By using (26), (27) and (28) and taking into
account that

(30)

the error at the 1st step on the Dirichlet condition on Bp is

(31)

where [P^] is a square matrix of order Np given by

[P.] = (1-Y)[U] - T[H][M]-'[Mp] + y[Hp] (32)

With the new boundary condition (29), another solution of (5) is obtained, whose error is

[AA*"] = -[M]"'[Mp][AA{;"] = - [M"'][Mp][P^][AA^°'] (33)

By further continuing the procedure, we can generalize (31) and (33) for the generic ith step:

[AAJ/'] = [P^]'[AAiP'] (34)

[AA'"] = -[IVI]-'[Mp] [PJ'[AA[P'] (35)

Hence the procedure converges to the true solution for every initial error [AA^^*] if and only if the
spectral radius py of matrix [P^] is lower than I. Otherwise divergence may oecur.
Although this result is valuable from a theoretical point of view, it does not lead to sufficient
conditions implying py< \. For practical applications of the procedure it would be desirable to estab-
lish simple rules to guide the more appropriate choice of the fictitious boundary (shape and position
with respect to the conductors) and the relaxation parameter y in such a way that convergence of
the procedure is assured and computational effort is kept to a minimum. Unfortunately, unmanageable
expressions arise when one tries to relate the spectral radius py to the structural properties of the
involved matrices in a useful and general way. The only way to deal with this topic is by experimen-
tally analysing significant case-study systems, as is done in the next Section.

6. CONVERGENCE ANALYSIS OF A CASE-STUDY SYSTEM

In order to study the convergence characteristics of the current iteration procedure a simple case-
study is analysed in this Section. This system is a two-wire line in which both the conductors have an
identical square section (see Figure 2). The problem data were set as: .v = w = 2 cm, 0-= 5-6 x 10' S/m,

b
t F
d

h I,
2s
-a 1a
r

d
r

-b

d 2s 2w 2s d
Figure 2, Square-section two-wire transmission line
132 G. AIELLO ET AL.

Table I. Number of iteration steps for different values of d and y

Parameter y
Distance d, cm 01 0-2 0-3 0-4 0-5 0-6 0-7 0-8 0-9 10

1 18 12 9 7 5 4 4 4 5 6
2 19 12 9 7 6 5 4 3 3 4
3 20 13 10 8 6 5 4 3 3 4
4 20 13 10 8 6 5 4 4 3 3

Table II. Normalized CPU time for different values of d and y

Parameter y
Distance d, cm 01 0-2 0-3 0-4 0-5 06 0-7 0-8 0-9 10

1 3-74 2-56 1-96 1-57 1-24 1-04 l'O2 1-00 1-25 146
2 7-58 519 3-99 3-21 2-64 2-27 1-98 1-64 1-61 2-10
3 14-29 9-66 6-71 6-35 5-08 416 3-43 2-88 2-56 3-17
4 24-20 22-50 19-18 10-79 8-53 1-21 613 4-79 4-06 4-96

/, =-/2 = 1 A, / = 100 Hz. In order to study the effect of the distance of Bp, a set of rectangular
fictitious boundaries was selected, placed at a variable distance d from the conductors so that a =
w + 2s + d and b = s + d. Given the symmetry of the system the analyses were restricted to the first
quadrant only, by imposing homogeneous Neumann and Dirichlet conditions on the x- and j-axis,
respectively. Regular meshes of isosceles rectangular triangles were employed by regularly subdivid-
ing the conductor side according to a given element size h = sIm and selecting the distance of Bp as
d = nh, with m and n integers. A third integer/? completely defines the mesh by specifying the order
of the triangular elements.
In a first set of analyses half the conductor was discretized in a fixed way with 16 triangles of
2nd order (m = 2 and p = 2). The fictitious boundary was progressively distanced with values of the
parameter d ranging from d= 1 cm to d = 4 cm {n= 1, ..., 4) and the relaxation parameter y was
varied from 0 1 to 1-0. Table I reports the number of iterations obtained with the initial guess
[Ap"*] = [Apol and adopting an end iteration tolerance e = 0-1%. For the same set of analyses. Table
11 reports the normalized CPU time, the normalizing time being that relative to the case ^ = I cm
and 7 - 0 - 8 . As can easily be seen, the distance d of the fictitious boundary has little influence on
the number of iterations. The rapid increase in computing time with d is mainly due to the expansion
of the mesh in the air region around the conductors.
In order to explore the behaviour of the convergence characteristics with y when the frequency is
varied, the preceding example was tested with fixed mesh (m = 2, n - 2 andp = 2) and with increasing
frequency values/= 10* Hz, fe= 1, ..., 4, so that the ratio A between the skin depth 6 and the node
spatial interval h/p ranges from 4-3 to 0-14. These analyses were performed with four relaxation
parameter values (•y = 0-7, ..., 1-0). Table III reports the number of iteration steps and the normalized
CPU time (the normalization value being the same as in Table II). Note that for the frequency/= 10'*
Hz the amount of CPU time becomes very large; this effect is not to be related to an increased
number of iteration steps but to a longer computing time required by the solver due to the poor FEM
discretization with respect to the skin depth (A = 0-14). For the other cases, in which the discretization

Table III. Number of iteration steps and normalized CPU time for
different values of y and/

Frequency, Hz
Parameter y 10 10= 10^ 10^

0-7 4 2-35 4 1-98 4 1-81 4 6-80

0-& 3 1-99 3 1-63 3 1-42 3 5-49
3 1-87 3 1-60 4 1-89 4 7 44
1.0 3 1-53 4 2-03 5 2-37 5 914
 SKIN EFFECT PROBLEMS 133

is adequate, the Table results shows thai, when the frequency is increased, minima for both CPU
time and number of iterations are achieved for decreasing values of the relaxation parameter.
From these results two concluding remarks can be made:
(i) Even if the fictitious boundary is placed in close proximity of the conductors (d= 1 cm), no
divergent behaviour is observed (that is py< 1).
(ii) A large interval of values of the relaxation parameter y (from 0-7 to 1-0) is available, with
which computing time does not greatly vary.
These remarks have a general validity, since they have been observed for all the systems analysed
(a significant subset of which is reported in Section 9). Some general practical criteria for the place-
ment of the fictitious boundary and selection of the relaxation parameter can therefore be stated. Two
approaches can be pursued for the placement of the fictitious boundary. If the conductors are separated
by a distance greater than or comparable to their mean diameters, the fictitious boundary is con-
veniently selected as consisting of separate closed surfaces, each one enclosing a conductor, placed
around it at a distance ranging from 1/4 to 1/2 of the mean diameter of the conductor. If, on the
contrary, the conductors are closely grouped, it is convenient to use a single surface enclosing all
the conductors, placed at the same distance as above. The choice of the relaxation parameter is not
critical when the fictitious boundary is placed according to the aforementioned criteria; several values
of y can be used with no great differences in the computing time; in all cases a good average choice
is 0 - 8 ^ 7 ^ 0-9.

7. AXISYMMETRIC PROBLEMS

In the case of axisymmetric conductor systems some changes are necessary with respect to 2-D ones.
A cylindrical reference frame (r, 9, z) is assumed to have the z-axis coincident with the symmetry
one. In this frame the magnetic vector potential is azimuthal like the current density. Since the gradient
of the electrical scalar potential multiplied by the radial co-ordinate r is constant inside each conduc-
tive-homogeneous conductor piece, the following equation is obtained:'**'^

dr -;*')=-ft-/'
where:

-^dS (37)

, (TAdS (38)
Pk

Note that the singularity arising in (37) when the kth conductor includes the z-axis is only apparent.
In this case, in fact, the total current I^ is zero and the holding equation is obtained from (36) by
dropping the terms containing /^ and <t>^.
Equation (36) can be solved by a change of the variable A of the type V= r"A, where a is a real
constant, which in the literature has been chosen as 1, - 1 and 1/2.^'^^ A convenient choice is a = -l,
that is

A
V =- (39)

By multiplying (36) by r, the following equation is obtained:

^;.) = -wh inS, (40)

134 G. AIELLO ET AL.

Outside the conductors the potential A is Laplacian, whereas the potential V satisfies the following
equation:

If the z-axis is included in the domain boundary the homogeneous Neumann condition holds on it
for the potential V. By discretizing the bounded domain and applying the Galerkin method an equation
similar to (5) is derived in tenns of the potential V.^'
The two approaches used to obtain the integral constraint equation change as specified below. If
the ^ h conductor has reluctivity i^o the contribution to the potential V at a point Pp = (rp,O,Zp) of
Bp can be evaluated as

V,(PF) = ^ - ^ = - y(P)G,(P,Pp)d5 (42)

'"F '• J

where J is the current density inside the ^ h conductor,

- ^ / * - j<oa{ rV-^A P ^ S, (43)

Pkf \ f /

and Ga is the influence function, expressing the azimuthal magnetic vector potential in a homogeneous
medium with unitary permeability due to unitary current flowing in a circular ring, generated by the
rotation of point P = (r,O,z) around the z - ^

COS© _ 1 Ir
l-y)r(A)-£:(A)| (44)

in which P' is the generic point on the above ring, and F and E are the complete elliptic integrals
of the first and second kind, respectively, whose common argument A is given by

Analogously to the 2-D case, the potential ^ ( P F ) can be expressed by means of a formula similar
to (12), for which:

(46)

(47)

(48)

with:

(49)

(50)
 SKIN EFFECT PROBLEMS 135

and t^ is the generic entry of the metric matrix of element Ey.

Alternatively, the second approach leads to a formula similar to (19) in terms of the potential V,
for which

ds (51)

where

d COS0

' I Uad+bc)F(\) - ^^^^E(X)\ (52)

in which n' is the generic vector obtained by rotating n around the ^-axis and

3r . dz , dr
r ( z ^ , ) d rp (53)
dn an an

8. NON-LINEAR PROBLEMS

Consider now that one or more conductors exhibit a non-linear magnetic behaviour, such that hister-
e.sis is negligible and reluctivity depiends on the magnetic induction 6 by a given monotonic func-
tion v(B^).
In this case the current iteration procedure is applicable since equation (1), although non-linear,
is still valid. Of course, only the second approach (based on the Laplacian behaviour of the magnetic
vector potential outside the conductors) can be used to take into account the contributions of the
magnetically non-linear conductors to the magnetic vector potential on B,.. Then the only difference
with respect to the linear case lies in the algorithm employed for the solution of the non-linear system
(5). The Newton-Raphson iterative method is very well suited to this aim.^-'-^'* The values of the
magnetic vector potential at the (q + 1 )th iteration step are obtained by

[A'"""] = [A""] + [SA""] (54)

in which the increment vector [6A'*'] is the solution of the linear system

tJ^^JCSA*"'] =-IQ*")] (55)

where IQ] is the vector

IQ] = [M][A] - [D,,] + [M,-][A,] (56)

and [J] is the Jacobian matrix whose entries are

(57)

in which use of lst-order triangular elements has been assumed.

136 G. AIELLO ET AL.

9. EXAMPLES OF APPLICATION AND COMPARISONS

In this Section the current iteration procedure is applied to the solution of some typical skin effect
problems in unbounded domains. In the first example, a 2-D linear analysis is carried out for a three-
phase transmission line; in the second one an axisymmetric linear problem is considered for a conduc-
tor torus of circular cross-section; the third example regards the solution of a non-linear problem
concerning a bifilar unshielded transmission line in the presence of a ferromagnetic passive conductor.
In the fourth example, regarding a two-wire line of circular cross-section, the current iteration pro-
cedure is compared with the co-ordinate transformation technique. All the computations were perfor-
med by means of ELFIN, a large finite element code developed by the authors for electromagnetic
CAD research.^*

9.1. Three-phase transmission line

The system consists of three conductors of equal circular cross-section of radius R = 3 mm,
embedded in air. Their centres are positioned at the vertices of an ideal equilateral triangle whose
side is L = 13 mm. The conductors have a copper conductivity o-= 5-6 x 10^ S/m and a permeability
equal to that of air. A system of balanced alternating currents is assumed to flow in the conductors
/i = 10 A, /j = /3 = - 5 A at a frequency / = 50 Hz. For symmetry reasons only half of the geometry
is considered in the analysis. In a first case a connected domain was selected and discretized by means
of 240 2nd-order Lagrangian triangular elements. In order to approximate the circular boundaries of
the conductors better, curved-side elements were employed on them. The same system was also
analysed by considering a disconnected domain which is a subset of the first one. The same mesh
of 192 triangles was used for their intersection. A reduction of 77 per cent was observed in the
computing time because the global FEM algebraic system is actually split into two subsystems which
can be solved separately; no appreciable difference was observed when the two solutions were com-
pared, as can be noted from Figures 3 and 4, in which the contours of the magnitude of the magnetic
vector potential are plotted.

9.2. Conductor torus of circular cross-section

This example refers to a simple axisymmetric system consisting of a conductor torus of mean
radius R = 12-5 mm, having a circular cross-section of radius R' -5 mm, embedded in air. The torus
conductivity and permeability are, respectively, cr = 5-6x 10^ S/m and /j. = jLto-47rx 10'' H/m. A

Figure 3. Contours of the magnetic vector potential magnitude for the first analysis of the three-phase line
 SKIN EFFECT PROBLEMS 137

Figure 4. Contours of the magnetic vector potential magnitude for the second analysis of the three-phase line

Figure 5. Finite element mesh of half cross-section of the circular torus

total current / - I A is flowing in the torus at a frequency/= 1 kHz. A circular fictitious boundary
was selected concentric with the torus cross-section, placed at a distance d = 2 mm from the conductor
surface. The resulting bounded domain was discretized by means of a mesh of 64 2nd-order triangles
and 149 nodes (see Figure 5); here again curved triangles were used on the conductor surface. Figure
6 shows the contours of the magnitude of the current density inside the conductor. Moreover in Figure
7 the magnitude and phase of the magnetic vector potential A along the r-axis diameter of the cross-
section are reported.

Figure 6. Contours of the current density magnitude in the torus cross-section

138 G. AIELLO ET AL.

50

J^30
•<

f 20

10

7.5 10 12.5 15
distance (mm)

20
•

— 10

•<.

" ^ -10

-20

7.5 10 12.5 17.5

distance (mm)

Figure 7. Magnitude and phase of the magnetic vector potential along the r-axis diameter of the torus cross-section

9.3. Bifilar transmission line in the presence of a non-linear passive conductor

Consider a two-wire copper transmission line of circular cross-section infinitely extended in the
^-direction in the presence of a third central passive conductor of rectangular cross-section exhibiting
non-linear magnetic behaviour (steel). The geometry of the system examined is shown in Figure 8,
together with the fictitious boundary selected. The data was set as follows: R = 5 mm, D = 20 mm,

Figure 8. Two-wire line with interposed passive ferromagnetic conductor

 SKIN EFFECT PROBLEMS 139

w = h = 2-5 mm, a= \6 mm and b = 6 mm. In the circular conductors two currents of identical inten-
sity are assumed to flow in opposite directions /j = - / j = 1 A at a frequency / = 1 kHz, whereas no
current is imposed on the steel conductor, so that the total current is zero. The first magnetization
curve of the steel conductor was modelled by using an exponential approximation.^' Figure 9 reports
the contours of the magnitude of the magnetic vector potential A.

9.4. Two-wire transmission line

Consider a couple of parallel straight copper conductors of circular cross-section embedded in

air. The problem data was selected as in Reference 11: conductor radius R = 5 mm, distance between
their centres £) = 20mm, conductor conductivity: a = 5-6xlO^ S/m, conductor currents
/i =-h= 10 A, frequency/= I kHz. This last example is presented in order to compare the current
iteration technique proposed here with the co-ordinate transformation one, since it appears as one of
the most efficient and easily implementable techniques for the FEM solution of unbounded electro-
magnetic problems. Owing to the symmetries of the system only a quarter of the original domain
was considered, by imposing homogeneous Neumann and Dirichlet conditions on the symmetry and
antisymmetry axis, respectively.
In order to apply the co-ordinate transformation method a circular boundary was selected having
a radius Rcj = 15 mm; a mesh of 140 2nd-order triangles (38 in the conductor, 28 in the exterior
region) was used for the discretization. With this choice the amount of storage required for the global
algebraic system {double precision [M] and [D] arrays, 4-byte integer row and column pointers) was
about 530 KB. The CPU time required for the solution was 94 s on a DEC3000 Alpha workstation
(central memory 32 MB, clock frequency 150 MHz). Figure 10 shows the countours of the equal
magnetic vector potential magnitudes in the outer and inner regions.
The current iteration method was applied by introducing a fictitious boundary constituted by two
circumferences concentric with the two wires, having a radius R^ = Rcj/2. One-quarter of the domain
was discretized with 78 2nd-order triangles, in such a way that the conductor discretization is the
same as in the co-ordinate transformation mesh. For this computation the amount of storage required
for the global algebraic system and the various matrices ([Mp], [Apo] and [H]) needed by the iterative
procedure was 470 KB, whereas the CPU time was 105 s (four iterations, initial guess [A[.^'] = [Ap,,],
relaxation parameter 7 = 0 9 , end-iteration tolerance e= 10%). As can be seen from Figure 11, the
solutions obtained with the two techiques show excellent agreement: a mean absolute relative differ-
ence of 0 05% was observed for the magnetic vector potential values in the conductor nodes.
The above results show that the current iteration procedure is competitive (also in the 2-D case)
with respect to the well-established co-ordinate transformation technique from the point of view both
of storage and computing time. Note that this relative performance can increase if the system is
constituted of several conductors the distances between which are much greater than their diameters.

10. CONCLUSIONS

The characteristics illustrated make the current iteration procedure attractive for the treatment of two-
dimensional and axisymmetric skin-effect problems in open boundaries. In fact the capability of
dealing with unbounded domains is substantially obtained by using a standard FEM code for bounded
problems in an iterative way. Several advantages derive from this approach: simplicity of implemen-
tation (starting from a pre-existing FEM code for bounded problems); the possibility of achieving

Figure 9. Contours of the magnetic vector potential magnitude for the non-linear 2-D example
140 G. AIELLO ET AL.

Figure 10. Contours of the magnetic vector potential magnitude in the inner and outer domains in the co-ordinate transformation
solution

Figure 11. Contours of the magnetic vector potential magnitude in the current iteration solution

increased accuracy by mesh refinement and/or higher-order elements as in standard FEM approxi-
mations; the simplicity of taking into account external sources; the very small extension of the domain
to be discretized around the conductors; easy treatment of non-linear problems.
From the conditions for convergence, practical criteria for optimal utilization of the procedure
have been derived. If the implementation takes advantage of these properties, the overall amount of
computational effort can be kept sufficiently low and the procedure can be made competitive with
respect to other techniques for the FEM solution of skin effect problems in open boundaries.

ACKNOWLFDGEMENTS

This work was partially supported by MURST (the Italian Ministry for University and Scientific and
Technological Research).
 SKIN EFFECT PROBLEMS 141

11. APPENDIX

In this Appendix some techniques are described to evaluate the integral constraint coefficients, rel-
evant to the current iteration procedure for the bidimensional case, the axisymmetric one being
quite similar.
Since computation of the coefficients Z?,,, h', and h'^ is mainly linked to evaluation of the integral
factors ^0 and g,,, the techniques which are illustrated regard such coefficients alone; the appropriate-
ness of these techniques varies according to the relative position of point Pp ^ ^F with respect to
the mean dimension of the finite element £, belonging to the ^ h conductor.
(a) Pp belongs to E,. This happens when a piece of fictitious boundary is lying on the boundary B^.
of the ^ h conductor. In this ease the integrands in (16) and (17) are singular for P = Pp since
Pp coincides with a node on a side of E,. Special Gauss quadratures^" can be usefully employed.
Closed analytical formulas can also be used for finite elements with straight sides.^**
(b) Pp is near to E,. In this case standard Gauss quadrature techniques ean be used.^^ Alternatively
analytical formulas are also applicable for the case in which the element has straight sides.^"
(e) Pj. is moderately far from E,. In this case a good approximation of Green's function inside E, is
obtained by

p ) = 2 G,^aJP) P eE,- (58)

where G,,, are the values of Green's function at the nodes of E,. Then;

,„ (59)

8n=Li^Gm (60)

where:

(61)

(62)

Of course, for triangular elements with straight sides both/^ and t,,,,, can be evaluated by resorting
to Silvester's universal matrices.^''
(d) Pp is very far from £,. In this case one can compute the total current /, in the element E,,

2 c'rAn + Z 2 ^'^m (63)

where:

(64)

c',, - -jojafn (65)

(66)

and concentrate this current in the barycentre P^ of E^; then:

hi) - jLt()CoG(PB,Pp) (67)
(68)
(69)
142 G. AIELLO ET AL.

Since the coefficients c are independent of the point Pp on Bp, this technique only requires
computation of a few integrals per finite element. For a simple implementation of the current
iteration procedure which foresees only placements of the fictitious boundary at a certain distance
from the conductors, one can implement only the last numerical technique, obtaining equally
good approximations of the solution at the expense of sligbtly greater computing time.
As far as the coefficients h"^ are concerned, the numerical techniques which can be adopted are those
currently used in BEM. The reader can find details about this in References 31-33.

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 SKIN EFFECT PROBLEMS 143
Authors* biographies:

Giovanni Aiello was bom in Catania, Italy, on 12 June 1958. In 1983, he received a degree
in Electrical Engineering from the University of Catania. In 1985 he joined the Electric,
Electronic and Systems Department of the University of Catania working in the area of
numerical computation of electromagnetic fields. Since 1990 he has been a University
Researcher in electrical engineering at the same university. His present research interests
focus on mathematical modelling of electromagnetic fields and their numerical computation.

Salvatore Alfonzetti was bom in Catania, Italy, in 1952. He received his degree in electri-
cal engineering from the University of Catania in 1976. Since 1977 he has been working
at the same university, first as a Contract Professor of Network Theory (1980-83) and
University Researcher in Electrical Engineering (1983-87), and currently as Associate Pro-
fessor of Electrotechnics. Since 1992 he has been the Director of the Computing Centre
of the Engineering Faculty. His main research work is currently concemed with finite
element analysis of electromagnetic systems. He is the author of more than 80 technical
papers. Mr. Alfonzetti is a member of the I.E.E.E., A.C.E.S., I.C.S. and A.E.I.

Salvatore Coco was bom in Catania, Italy, on 10 February 1959. He graduated from the
University of Catania in 1983 in electrical engineering. From 1984 to 1986 he worked as
a Research Engineer at the Microwave Laboratory of Selenia Spazio, working on the design
of advanced satellite communication systems. From 1987 to 1992 he was a University
Researcher in electrotechnics at the Engineering Faculty of the University of Reggio Calab-
ria, Italy. Currently he is an Associate Professor of Electrotechnics at the University of
Catania. His main scientific interests are in the numerical computation of electromagnetic
fields and active filter design.

Nunzio Salerno was bom in Catania, Italy, on 20 March 1966. He graduated from the
University of Catania in 1992 in electronic engineering. He is completing the Ph.D. degree
in electrical engineering at the same university. His research interests are concemed with
the numerical computation of unbounded electromagnetic fields.