Eddy Current Assumptions

The eddy current field solver makes the following assumptions about the field quantities for which it solves:

• Time-varying electromagnetic quantities are assumed to have the periodic waveform:



• All quantities must have the same frequency (angular frequency), but can have different phase angles (q). If a current is not a pure sinusoid, decompose it into sinusoidal harmonics, and solve separately at each frequency, but only for linear problems.
• All currents (source, eddy, and displacement) are assumed to flow perpendicular to the plane being studied (that is, in the z-direction for XY applications). Therefore, the magnetic fields associated with these currents lie within the xy-plane. As a result, A, the magnetic vector potential, has a z-component only.
• Because no currents flow in the xy-plane, the electric field, E, has a z-component only. It follows that f is constant over the cross-section of each conductor in the problem.