2-D Eddy Current Boundary Value Problems for Power Cables With Helicoidal Symmetry

Power cables have complex geometries in order to reduce their ac resistance. The cross section of a cable consists of several conductors that are electrically insulated from each other to counteract the current displacement caused by the skin effect. Furthermore, the individual conductors are twisted over the cable’s length. This geometry has a non-standard symmetry—a combination of translation and rotation. Exploiting this property allows formulating a dimensionally reduced boundary value problem (BVP). Dimension reduction is desirable; otherwise, the electromagnetic modeling of these cables becomes impracticable due to tremendous computational efforts. We investigate 2-D eddy current BVPs, which still allow the analysis of 3-D effects, such as the twisting of conductor layers.