Improvement of electrical field analysis by use of computer aided software engineering (CASE) tools

Field analysis of complex electrode configurations is an important task in the design of high-voltage apparatus or test-setups. Computer simulations in the design phase can reveal weaknesses and possible faults before expensive prototypes are built-up. Multi-purpose field analysis programs are available, providing graphical user interfaces (GUI) coupled with computer aided design (CAD) environments. Such integrated environments are still expensive and dependent on high-performance computer equipment. Most field analysis programs can be fed with scripts describing the problem to be investigated. This allows interpretation of the field analysis task as a software programming task. The matter of software programming is well known as software engineering (SE) and a large amount of strategies and computer tools exist that help to facilitate project management and to speed-up project schedules. Field analysis and software development are compared and similarities are revealed. With these similarities, commonly used strategies and tools from SE can be used to improve the model generation and calculation speed of field analysis. A review of SE strategies and tools shows that the benefit for the field analysis is a more effective handling of varied parameters, a significant reduction of calculation time and a robust model that allows easy maintenance. Although the finite element method (FEM) and a distinct analysis software were used, the principal ideas of SE here can be used with other field analysis methods and software programs.