Validation of finite element techniques for the analysis of conductive coupling problems in grounding systems and transmission line rights of way by comparison with alternative numerical methods

Abstract

The finite element modelling of the conductive coupling in grounding systems and in transmission line rights of way corresponds to a class of challenging numerical problems, which finds various applications in Electrical Engineering. The main difficulties involved are related to the treatment of thin conductors and to the open character of the computational domain.In the on-going PhD project 2011/03450-1, techniques for dealing with these difficulties in this context of applications are being proposed and investigated. As a consequence, the validation of the results produced by these techniques arises as a necessity.Due to the existing difficulty for the obtainment or production of experimental results in this category of problems, validation by means of a comparison between the finite element modelling with other alternative numerical methods is then considered. To do so, an internship is proposed in the French group G2ELab (Laboratoire de Génie Electrique de Grenoble), which is largely recognized as one of the leading research groups in Computational Electromagnetics applied to Electrical Engineering. (AU)