IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY, VOL. 49, NO. 3, AUGUST 2007 689
Generalized Form of Telegrapher’s Equations
Electromagnetic Field Coupling to Finite-Len
Lines Above a Lossy Ground
Dragan Poljak, Member, IEEE, Farhad Rachidi, Senior Member, IEEE,
and Sergey V. Tkachenko, Senior Member, IEEE
Abstract—In this paper, a generalized form of the Telegrapher’s
equations for electromagnetic field coupling to finite-length trans-
mission lines above a lossy ground is derived. The approach is fully
based on the thin-wire antenna theory. The effect of a lossy half-
space is taken into account by means of the reflection coefficient
approximation. The conductor losses can also be taken into account
via surface impedance per unit length. The resulting equations are
handled numerically via the Galerkin–Bubnov indirect boundary
element method. Numerical results are presented for induced cur-
rentalong the line, and compared with transmission line (TL)
approximation, for the case of lossless conductor. It is shown that
the TL approximation can result in a significant underestimation
of the induced currents.
Index Terms—Antenna theory,electromagnetic coupling,
ground plane, radiation effects, transmission line modeling.
I. I NTRODUCTION
T
HE ANALYSIS of electromagnetic field coupling to lines
can be performed by using the thin-wire antenna or trans-
mission line (TL) model [1]. The first approach, based on an-
tenna theory, is the more rigorous one as the TL theory does
notprovide a complete solution for the excitation of victim
equipment by an incident field if the wavelength of the elec-
tromagnetic field coupling to a transmission line is comparable
to or less than the transverse electrical dimensions of the line.
The TL approximation is usually considered as a compromise
between a quasi-static approximation and the receiving antenna
model [1]. This approach, though sufficient if long lines with
electrically-small cross sections are considered, fails if one deals
with the lines of finite length and high-frequency excitations.
The TL model, therefore, fails to predict resonances and is not
able to recognize the presence of a lossy ground. Also, the ef-
fects at the line ends cannot be taken into account utilizing this
approach [1]– [6]. Hence, when the lines of finite length are of
interest, the receiving antenna theory has to be used.
Thus,the wave-like behavior of the induced responses at
higher frequencies requires a more general approach, which is
Manuscript received November 3, 2005; revised June 30, 2006.
D. Poljak is with the Department of Electronics, University of Split, HR-
21000 Split, Croatia, and also with the Wessex Insitute of Technology, Ashurst,
Southampton S040 7AA, U.K. (e-mail: dpoljak@fesb.hr).
F. Rachidiis with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, CH-1015
Laussane, Switzerland (e-mail: Farhad.Rachidi@epfl.ch).
S. V. Tkachenko is with the Institute for Fundamental Electrical Engineer-
ing and Electromagnetic Compatibility, Otto-von-Guericke University, D-39106
Magdeburg, Germany (e-mail: sergey.tkachenko@etechnik.uni-magdeburg.de).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TEMC.2007.902179
Fig. 1. Finite-length line above a lossy ground.
based on integral equations arising from wire antenna the
the other hand, the restrictions of the wire antenna model
to overhead lines are often related to the long computation
required for calculations pertaining to the long lines.
An extension of the standard TL approach to the combin
electromagnetic field to transmission line coupling equatio
valid foroverhead wires has been presented in [2] and [3].
The approach presented in [2] and [3] is based on the perf
conducting (PEC) ground approximation. The improvemen
this important contribution can be done in two directions:
1) to include the effect of a lossy ground in Tkatchenko
et al.’s [3] corrected form of Telegrapher’s equations;
2) to provide a clear relationship between TL equations a
antenna theory.
These represent the objectives of the present study in w
a generalized type of the Telegrapher’s equations, including
the presence of a lossy ground and conductor loss, is deriv
The presented derivations provide a clear correlation betw
the rigorous antenna theory approach to the analysis of fin
length lines [7]–[9] based on the standard Pocklington inte
equation formulation and the classic Telegrapher’s equatio
proach arising from the transmission line theory. The influ
of a lossy ground is taken into account via the Fresnel refle
coefficient appearing within the Green function, while con
tor loss is considered via the surface impedance per unit le
In particular, the standard set of Telegrapher’s equations is
deduced from the generalized Telegrapher’s equations.
II. M ATHEMATICAL M ODEL OF S INGLE -WIRETRANSMISSION
LINEABOVELOSSYGROUND
A transmission line of finite-length L and radius a located
at height h above an imperfect ground and illuminated by
incident electromagnetic field (see Fig. 1) is considered.
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