In cooperation with José Roberto Cardoso
In electrical systems operating with alternating voltages and currents, there is a phenomenon called skin effect, in which currents tend to distribute all over the surface of the conductor instead of an uniform distribution through its cross section. This is due to the fact that the alternating current produces an alternating magnetic field, which induces voltages that makes the currents flow mainly through the surface of the conductor.
In a similar way, an alternating magnetic flux induces currents in a conductor material, that in turn produces a magnetic field that disturbs its distribution through its cross section, a phenomenon known as eddy currents.
With the purpose of illustrating both phenomena, the following app was created. It is possible to show the current density and the magnetic flux density vectors for different materials and different frequency values. It is important to highlight the fact that, although these effects are distinct and observed in different components (skin effect occurs in electrical cables, being the reason why aluminium cables have their core often replaced by steel, which increases their mechanical properties without significant changes in their conductivity, while the eddy currents are observed in electrical machines - such transformers and induction motors - that along with the hysteresis effect is commonly termed iron loss, being the reason why these machines' cores are made out of thin laminations which have an insulating coating), both phenomena are quite similar, show a certain symmetry.
