High current carrying cables used in power transmission lines create s
trong magnetic fields in their vicinity. For ac lines at 50-60 Hz, the
magnetic field is quasi-static and hence uncoupled from the electric
field. Shielding of such low frequency magnetic fields is a challenge,
In this paper, finite element modeling is used to study the effect of
various shield geometries and shield materials around a current carry
ing wire. Two-dimensional analysis is sufficient for this problem beca
use the cables are very long compared to the wire diameters, Shielding
effectiveness, defined as the difference in the magnetic field intens
ity with and without the shield, is presented. It is concluded that a
partial shield is the optimal design for shielding the region below th
e cable. To achieve this, the shield gap must be oriented above the hi
gh current wire.