QuickField is a window-based, Finite Element Method (FEM) software
package that supports Electrostatics, DC and AC conduction, Magnetostatics,
AC and Transient Magnetics, Steady State and Transient Heat Transfer and
Stress Analysis problem types. Models are created in a ‘point-and-click’ CAD
environment, where material properties and boundary conditions are assigned.
Automatic mesh generation and post processing are fast and user-friendly.
Solutions to most problems in the textbook can be displayed in a matter of seconds
after the model has been created.
The textbook is packaged with a companion CD with a student version of
the software capable of solving all the problems in the text. Additional examples
are included with the software. The student version of QuickField may also be
downloaded from the Tera Analysis website at www.quickfield.com. The user’s
guide and demonstration videos are also available on the website.
Application-based examples in the text and on the website include the calculation
of currents in biological tissue under electrical stimulation, superconducting
magnetic shielding, magnetic levitation, electromagnetic nondestructive
testing as well as the motion of charged particles in electric fields. Multiphysics
applications include coupled stress, electromagnetic and thermal analysis.
Students taking a course in electromagnetic theory usually concentrate
mostly on analytical techniques, e.g., solving differential equations and boundary
value problems. Unfortunately, students often come away with a limited
understanding of how electromagnetic fields behave. Computer modeling
serves to bridge this understanding gap in that it enables visualization of electric
and magnetic fields and electrical currents and therefore builds an intuitive
and qualitative understanding that is not readily gained in manipulating complex
analytical expressions.
Analytical methods developed in this text concentrate on separation of variables,
conformal mapping, and Laplace transform techniques. Numerical finite
difference and Monte Carlo methods are also introduced with examples in
MATLAB. Comparison of numerical solutions with theory helps establish confidence
in numerical methods and builds experience in establishing the reliability
of computational results and the applicability of theoretical approximations.
The book includes extensive problem sets that facilitate computer-based
learning of electromagnetics and the application of QuickField and MATLAB
illustrating some of the basic concepts in electromagnetic theory such as Gauss’
Law and Ampere’s Law. The exercises are designed to allow user selection of
different parameters, dimensions, material properties, and initial conditions.
Tables of physical properties and characteristic dimensions of engineering materials
and biological materials in living cells and the human body are included
in Appendices 4 and 5 for the reader’s convenience. The reader is encouraged
to conform, modify, and extend these exercises according to his or her own
interests.
Chapter 1 introduces mathematical preliminaries and MATLAB concurrently
with additional MATLAB examples in Appendix 1. The vector analysis
component of Chapter 1 provides simple MATLAB examples calculating vector
dot and cross products. The divergence, curl, gradient, and Laplacian are also
calculated in different coordinate systems. The Laplace Transform introduced
in Chapter 1 is used in chapters on transient magnetics, thermal analysis, stress
analysis, and electrical circuit modeling.
Analytical and computational methods of solving Laplace and Poisson’s
equations are developed in Chapter 2. Readers wishing to jump directly into
QuickField may begin with Chapter 3 “A Walk Through QuickField.” This chapter
will get the reader started simulating simple electrostatic and magnetostatics
problems in QuickField with step-by-step visual instructions for plotting electric
and magnetic fields, creating contour graphs, and calculating integral values.
Chapters 4 through 10 cover electrostatics, magnetostatics, time-harmonic
magnetics, transient magnetics, superconductivity, alternating and direct current
flow. Chapters 11 and 12 cover thermal and stress analysis and multiphysics
examples with coupled heat transfer, stress and electromagnetic coupling.
Applications include space capsule atmospheric reentry simulations that couple
thermal and stress analysis as well as modeling the temperature distribution
resulting from current flow in a fuel cell.
The text concludes with Chapter 13 on passive electrical circuits. QuickField
includes a CAD-based electrical circuit simulator that simulates circuits with AC
or transient time dependence. Applications include filter circuits and equivalent
circuit models of neurons and cells under electrical stimulations.
Applied Electromagnetics Using QuickField™ and MATLAB® is intended
as an introductory level textbook for teaching computer-based electricity,
magnetism and multiphysics. The text is easily accessible to advanced
undergraduates and beginning graduate students in physics and engineering.
Many exercises and demonstrations may be implemented using QuickField and
MATLAB in a traditional introductory level physics course. This second audience
will benefit from the visualization of electric and magnetic field distributions
and force calculations without a working knowledge of the finite element
method or potential theory.
