Numerical calculation and measurement of 60-Hz current densities induced in an upright grounded cylinder

Power-frequency electric fields are strongly perturbed in the vicinity of human beings and experimental animals. As a consequence, the extrapolation of biological data from laboratory animals to human-exposure situations cannot use the unperturbed exposure field strength as a common exposure parameter. Rather, comparisons between species must be based on the actual electric fields at the outer surfaces of and inside the bodies of the subjects. Experimental data have been published on surface and internal fields for a few exposure situations, but it is not feasible to characterize experimentally more than a small fraction of the diverse types of exposures which occur in the laboratory and in the field. A predictive numerical model is needed, one whose predictions have been verified in situations where experimental data are available, and one whose results can be used with confidence in new exposure situations. This paper describes a numerical technique which can be used to develop such a model, and it carries out this development for a test case, that of a homogeneous right-circular cylinder resting upright on-end on a ground plane and exposed to a vertical, uniform, 60-Hz electric field. The accuracy of the model is tested by comparing short-circuit currents and induced current densities predicted by it to measured values: Agreement is good.