Analysis of induced current density in grounded and ungrounded prolate spheroid models in concurrent ELF electric and magnetic fields

Analyzed in this paper is the induced current density in the homogeneous prolate spheroid model of a biological object exposed to concurrent 60‐Hz vertical electrical field (1 kV/m), and horizontal and vertical magnetic fields (1 to 5 μT) with different phase angle. The analysis has been carried out separately considering the presence of electric and magnetic fields. The current density induced by the electric field is calculated using the finite element method, whereas the current density induced by the magnetic fields is calculated with exact solution for the prolate spheriod model. The total induced current density is the vector sum of the current density components induced by the electric and magnetic fields. It is found that the density of the total current is determined by the vertical electric field and horizontal magnetic field. The horizontal magnetic field has an important effect on the total induced current density distribution. The distribution of the density of the total current varies with the phase difference between the vertical electric and horizontal magnetic fields. As the model gets close to the ground, however, the contribution of the horizontal magnetic field to the total induced current density is found to decrease. © 2001 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 135(3): 8–15, 2001