USING QUICK FIELD FOR FIELD THEORY

Problem Creation
Firstly, you need to create a problem by going to File Menu and click on New problem.
A small window prompts up, type in the name you wish to give the problem “problem
name” and click next. At the next page, ensure you set the problem type drop down
box to electrostatic and you select plane-parallel button. At the next page select the
right units (millimeters and Cartesian coordinates).

Geometry Settings
Go to the left hand corner of the window, double click on geometry: “problem name”,
this will open the worksheet at the main window. Then Click on the plus (+) button
before Data which is located under geometry: “problem name”. You will see block
label, edge label and vertex label.

Block Labels
Click on the plus button before block label, you will see None defined, right click on it
and rename it e.g. water, then right click again and go to properties, then set the
relative permittivity to e.g. 80 for water. Then click ok.

Edge Labels
Click on the plus (+) button before edge label, you will see None defined, right click on
it and rename it e.g. name is “electrode 1”. Right click again, then go to properties
and set the voltage to 0V, click ok. Repeat this step for the second electrode (name is
“electrode 2”) and set Voltage to approx. 8V. Also, do this same step for the medium
edge (name is “water boundary”) and set the surface charge to 0, do not set the
voltage.

Setting up the electrodes and the medium

Go to the main menu under edit, click on insert mode or go to the top menu and select
insert vertices/edges then go to the worksheet in the main window, right click on it and
select “add vertices”. Input all the coordinates as specified in the practical manual for
the two electrodes and for the water boundary while in the insert mode.

Example

1
For the two parallel plates,

After the right click on the worksheet, click on “add vertices”, this will prompt you a
small window asking for input x and y.

Enter X = 26.5 (mm)

Y= 31.7 (mm) then click add

Note that the vertex (point) is highlighted as a green point on the

worksheet

Next, input,

X = 33.1

Y =31.7 then click add

Next, input,

X = 26.5

Y = 82.6 then click add

Next, input

X = 33.1

Y = 82.6 then click add and close after typing the whole coordinates.

All this points defines the vertices for electrode 1. Repeat the same for electrode 2.

The vertices for the dimension of the board dimension (water boundary) indicated in
the manual can be broken down as follows;

X=0 Y=0

X=148.1 Y=0

X=0 Y=114.2

X=148.1 Y=114.2

Follow the same steps that were used for the two electrodes.

2
You can click on the “smart to fit” button on the top menu to see clearly the whole
setup

You can now join the points/vertices/coordinates using your mouse while still in insert
mode.

Go back to select mode by either clicking on the insert mode under the edit button or
click on the select mode button at the top menu. Right click on the water medium and
select properties. Go to label drop down button and choose the right option e.g.
water, then click ok. Do the same for all the lines (edges) of your electrodes e.g.
electrode 1 or electrode 2. Press the control button on your keyboard and click on the
four edges of the electrode at the same time (note: each line clicked are highlighted
as red), the right click on one of the highlighted red line and select properties, Go to
label drop down button and choose the right option e.g. electrode 1, then click ok. Do
the same for electrode 2 and the water boundary and ensure you select the right
option that is electrode 2 and water boundary option respectively.

Doing the mesh

Select all the set up by just clicking on your diagram/setup, then either go to edit and
click “build mesh” under it, then select “All blocks” , then go to electrode 1 and select
it, right click and click remove mesh, then click on “from selection” , do the same for
electrode 2. You can achieve all these by just clicking on the mesh button at the top
menu. It is expected to prompt you a complaint that it has exceeded 255 nodes (This is
due to the fact that you are using a student version of Quick field). To solve this, right
click on the diagram and select properties, go to spacing and change it to manual
then input a number e.g. 10 and click ok. Try click the mesh button again, if it gives the
same complaint then repeat the step and increase the number gradually till it works
(Spacing = 10 should be fine). You should see the meshes.

Note: The meshes in the electrode are removed because the electrodes are metallic
thus the voltage across it is the same (there is no potential difference).If it is not metallic
then there will be need to mesh the electrodes as well.

3
 Meshed Set up (successful mesh)

Solving the problem

After successfully meshing it, at the top menu select an equal to “=” to solve the
problem you have created. It should prompt you to ask if you want to see the results,
select yes.

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 After clicking the solve button

Then go to the top menu to click add a contour. Then use your mouse to draw the
appropriate straight line connecting the two electrodes as shown in your manual.

Drawing a line using the add to a contour button

Field Picture and Graphs

Right click and select field picture to see the field picture. It should prompt you field
view window, check the “equiline of potential “, “vectors of” and “color map of” radio
button and then click ok. You should see your field picture.

5
 Field Picture

Go to the top menu and select X-Y Plot for your graphs. Select the radio button on the
right corner of your window depending on your graph of interest. The graphs available
are Voltage, strength, field gradient, displacement, permittivity and Energy density.
Voltage (V)
8

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
L (mm)

The voltage graph

Strength (V/m)

160

150

140

130

120

110

100

0 10 20 30 40 50 60
L (mm)

6
 The strength graph

Field Gradient (V/m2)

1000

-1000

-2000

-3000

-4000

-5000

-6000

-7000
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
L (mm)

The Field gradient graph

Displacement (*10-7 C/m2)

1.18
1.16
1.14
1.12
1.10
1.08
1.06
1.04
1.02
1.00
0.98
0.96
0.94
0.92
0.90
0.88
0.86
0.84
0.82
0.80
0.78
0.76
0.74
0.72
0.70
0.68

0 10 20 30 40 50 60
L (mm)

Displacement graph

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Permittivity
80.10

80.09

80.08

80.07

80.06

80.05

80.04

80.03

80.02

80.01

80.00

79.99

79.98

79.97

79.96

79.95

79.94

79.93

79.92

79.91

79.90
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
L (mm)

Permittivity graph
Energy Density (*10-6 J/m3)
9.6
9.4
9.2
9.0
8.8
8.6
8.4
8.2
8.0
7.8
7.6
7.4
7.2
7.0
6.8
6.6
6.4
6.2
6.0
5.8
5.6
5.4
5.2
5.0
4.8
4.6
4.4
4.2
4.0
3.8
3.6
3.4
3.2
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
L (mm)

Energy Density graph