Modelling induced voltage on burried pipelines due to 3 phase systems

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Hi folks,

I'm new to COMSOL. In the recent past I did some (periodic) steady state simulations on the electric and magnetic fields of high voltage infrastructure. Now I would like to model the induced voltages on a buried pipeline due to neighbouring power lines. I have little clue how to start so I was wondering if anyone could help sketching a rough outline how to approach this problem. I would like to model the following situation:

  • A three phase powerline system (preferable modelled via edges).
  • The three phase powerline systems carries a 50 Hz AC current (preferably via edge currents) with a 120 degree phase shift between the phases
  • A steel pipeline burried pipeline is in close proximity to the powerline. This might be modeled as a real pipeline (e.g. a circular sheet of metal) but I guess that modeling the pipeline as a metal rod decreases complexity and simulation times. I think this is kind of modeling is also sufficient but than the coating resistance (see next point) should be changed accordingly.
  • The burried pipeline has a some insulating coating between the pipeline and the surrounding soil. This this coating is not perfect, so there will be a resistance to ground for every part of the pipeline (say e.g. 6000 Ohm*m).
  • The burried pipeline contains one or multiple earthing points (a location with e.g. a steel rod in the ground such that pipeline is electrically connected with the surrounding soil via a low resistance (e.g. 1 Ohm). I think the best way to model such an earthing point would be to tie a (ideal) electrical resistance between the steel pipeline and the surrounding soil instead of modeling the earthing rot explicitly (if possible).
  • I would like to obtain a graph of the absolute value of the induced voltage on the burried pipeline over the length of the pipeline (so x-axis is length of the pipeline, y-axis is absolute voltage).

I attached a model of what I managed to achieve myself. I think the first three points are pretty well covered (although I have not yet filled in the edge currents, I'm aware of that). But I'm not sure what kind of physic(s) interface(s) I need to use to achieve the expected result and how to set those up correctly. Would it be possible to provide me with some hints and tips on how to continue this model, please?

Thanks you very much and have a wonderful day!



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