Author(s)

D. Poljak, A. Peratta & C. A. Brebbia

Abstract

The boundary element analysis of the human body exposed to extremely low frequency (ELF) electric fields is presented in this work. The human being is represented by a multidomain inhomogeneous body of revolution. The formulation of the problem is based on the quasi-static approximation and the related Laplace equation form of the continuity equation. This Laplace equation has been solved by the boundary element method (BEM). Solving the resulting Laplace equation for the electric scalar potential, the induced current density inside the human body is obtained. This quantity is the fundamental parameter in further analysis of possible biological effects of ELF exposures. An illustrated computational example of the human body exposed to the electric field generated by an overhead power line is also presented. 1 Introduction The tremendous growth in the use of electrical energy for industrial applications is associated with the continuous presence of extremely low frequency (ELF) electric fields in the environment. At low frequency exposures, i.e. when displacement currents can be neglected, the electric and magnetic fields are assumed to be decoupled. Generally, human being can be exposed to two kinds of electromagnetic fields generated by low frequency (LF) power systems: 1) low voltage/high intensity systems (The principal radiated field is the magnetic one, while the induced currents form close loops in the body); 2) high voltage/low intensity systems (The principal radiated field is the electric one while the induced currents have the axial character).

Keywords