A numerical study of the efficiency of a cylindrical electromagnetic shield

Electromagnetic shields are widely used for protecting electrical equipment and cable lines from the influence of natural and artificial electric and magnetic fields. A 3D mathematical model of a solid cylindrical shield for protection from the effect of an alternating electromagnetic field produced inside a cable has been proposed. The model has been constructed using the finite-element method in the ANSYS HFSS software. Two electromagnetic-field sources have been considered: noise in the inner conductor (cable core) and a coaxial circuit, in which the shield is an outer working conductor. The electromagnetic-field distribution over the cable is described by the Maxwell equations, which are transformed into the Helmholtz vector equation with respect to the electric-field component so that the finite-element method may be used. The electromagnetic parameters of the considered media are constant and isotropic. The shielding properties have been studied for a copper cylindrical shield in the frequency range of 1–100 MHz. As a result of the mathematical solution, the distributions of electromagnetic-field intensities in the model have been obtained. To determine the shielding properties of a cable, the transfer impedance and shielding attenuation have been used. The adequacy of the model and technique for determining the efficiency of the screening has been verified by means of comparison between the obtained data and results of the analytical model.