Boundary-Relaxation Analysis of Rotationally Symmetric Electric Field Problems

A new numerical method is described for the solution of electric field problems where the field is not bounded in space, but extends infinitely far. This method belongs to the class of boundary-relaxation techniques in which an artificial finite boundary condition is initially introduced to allow solution and then iteratively removed as the solution proceeds. The method has been implemented in extensive computer programs, which produce equipotential plots of the electric field in the neighborhood of dielectric and conductive bodies possessing rotational symmetry. Application to the analysis of suspension insulators and related devices is described, and several field plots exhibited for standard insulator types. The method permits sufficiently short computation times to allow detailed investigation of the effects of insulator contamination by conductive substances, variation of dielectric constant, or other factors.