Modelling the Human Body Exposure to ELF Electric Fields

Book excerpt: The objective of this book is to describe techniques to investigate the behaviour of electric fields and induced currents in the human body exposed to different scenarios of extremely low frequency (ELF) high voltage - low current electromagnetic fields by means of numerical modelling with improved Boundary Element Methods (BEM).A variety of three dimensional anatomically shaped human body models under different exposure conditions are presented and solved.The mathematical formulation for the case of human exposure to ELF electromagnetic fields departing from Maxwell equations and for the electrical properties of biological tissue is provided.The underpinning ideas of the Boundary Element Method applied to ELF fields in the human body are presented.A literature survey including electrical properties of tissues relevant to low frequency calculations has been compiled and included in one chapter.A novel improved BEM approach is introduced in order to solve this type of problems leading to more accurate results and more efficient calculations.The developed methodology is applied to three different case studies: i- overhead power transmission lines, ii- power substation rooms, and iii- pregnant woman including foetus and evolving scenarios.In all the cases, a sensitivity analysis investigating the influence of varying geometrical and electrical properties of the tissues has been conducted.The results obtained allow to identify situations of high and low exposure in the different parts of the body and to compare with existing exposure guidelines.