ABSTRACT
Knowledge of electric fields is necessary in numerous applications in the design and operation of electrical and electronic equipment. This chapter shows how the electric field is determined for various gap geometries. In some gap geometries, the electric fields can simply be expressed analytically in a closed-form solution; in others, the electric field problem is complex because of the sophisticated boundary conditions, including media with different permittivities and conductivities. The general governing equation for space-charge-free fields is Laplace's equation. The effects of the image charges can safely be neglected when evaluating the fields at the conductor surfaces. The magnitude and direction of the maximum conductor surface field can be evaluated using the line conductor charges and potential coefficients. The constancy of the electric flux density at the interface of a multidielectric system makes it possible to increase the field uniformity by an appropriate choice of dielectric permittivities.
