Distributions of Induced Current Density Inside an Ungrounded Human Model Exposed to Electric Field

Abstract

The health effect of small currents induced in a human body exposed to the power frequency electric field has been investigated since early 1970s. The distributions of induced current density inside grounded and ungrounded human models have been quantified; however, such internal distributions have been little analyzed as a function of the model heights above the ground.
In order to analyze the effect of the human body heights above the ground on the internal current distributions, the axisymmetrical human model is used. The finite element method is applied for the human model placed at heights of 0.01, 0.05, 0. 1 and 1.0m above the ground under a uniform 60Hz electric field of 1kV/n. The calculations lead to the quantification of the characteristics of the internal current density inside an ungrounded human model. The calculated results have demonstrated the adequacy of the experimental results reported by Kaune et al. who used a 3-dimensional miniature human model.