Explicit computation of the electrostatic energy for an

elliptical charged disc.

Sophie Laurens, Sebastien Tordeux

To cite this version:

Sophie Laurens, Sebastien Tordeux.
Explicit computation of the electrostatic
energy for an elliptical charged disc..
Applied Mathematics Letters, Elsevier,
2012, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aml.2012.09.013. <10.1016/j.aml.2012.09.013>. <hal00723234v1>

HAL Id: hal-00723234

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00723234v1
Submitted on 8 Aug 2012 (v1), last revised 4 Jan 2012 (v2)

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Explicit computation of the electrostatic energy for an

elliptical charged disc
S. Laurensa,b , S. Tordeuxc,b
a Mathematical

Institute of Toulouse, 118 route de Narbonne, F-31400 Toulouse

42 Avenue Gaspard Coriolis F-31100 Toulouse
c INRIA Bordeaux Sud-Ouest-LMA, avenue de lUniversit, F-64013 Pau
b CERFACS,

Abstract
This letter describes a method to obtain an explicit expression for the electrostatic energy of a charged elliptical infinitely thin disc. The charge distribution
is assumed to be polynomial. Such explicit values for this energy are fundamental for assessing the accuracy of boundary element codes. The main tools
used are an extension of Copsons method and a diagonalization, given by Leppington and Levine, of the single-layer potential operator associated with the
electrostatic potential created by a distribution of charges on the elliptical disc.

1. Introduction
In recent years, integral equations became an essential tool for solving both
industrial and scientific problems in electromagnetism and acoustics. The assessment of the accuracy delivered by such codes, in particular their handling of
the involved singular integrals, is a major issue. Here, we present a method to
derive an analytical expression for the electrostatic energy of a charged elliptical
infinitely thin plate, providing a mean for the validation of these codes.


Let us denote by A = (x1 , x2 ) R2 with x21 /a2 + x22 /b2 1 < 0 and a > b
the ellipse with major and minor semi-axis a and b. Let f be the electrostatic
potential generated by a density of charges distributed over A
Z
(y)
1
for all x in A,
(1)
dsy
f (x) =
4 A |x y|

with x = (x1 , x2 ). The units have been chosen so that the electric permittivity
of air is 1. The electrostatic energy I can be expressed in either the two following
forms:
Z
Z
Z
1
(x) (y)
I =
f (x) (x)dsx =
(2)
dsx dsy .
4
A
A
A |x y|
Email address: sophie.laurens@insa-toulouse.fr (S. Laurens)

Preprint submitted to Applied Mathematics Letters

August 6, 2012

We aim in this letter in proving and in numerically illustrating p

the following
theorem, where is the eccentricity of the ellipse A given by = 1 b2 /a2 .

Theorem 1.1. Let (x) = 0 + 1 x1 /a + 2 x2 /b, with R3 , be the distribution of charges over A. The corresponding electrostatic energy is given by





K() E()
8ab2
,
502 + 22 K() + 12 22
I =
15
2

with K() and E() the complete elliptic integrals of first and second kind
K() =

/2

d
p

sin

E() =

and

/2
0

1 2 sin2 d.

(3)

2. Diagonalization of the electrostatic energy

Following [1], we consider the spheroidal coordinate system (, ) giving a
parametrization of A in terms of the unit half-sphere
x1 = a sin cos and x2 = b sin sin , with [0, /2], [0, 2]. (4)
The elemental area associated with the new variables is ab cos sin dd. In
these spheroidal coordinates, the electrostatic potential f defined in (1) and the
electrostatic energy can also be written in terms of and as

Z
Z
ab /2 2 g( , )

sin d d ,
f (, ) =
, )
4 0
d(,
,

Z /2 Z 2 0

I = ab
f (, )g(, ) sin dd,
0

with g(, ) = (, ) cos and d(, , , ) the distance separating x from y

d = |x y| expressed in the spheroidal coordinates (4).
The next step consists in introducing a well chosen spectral basis of the half
sphere involving the even Legendre functions Qm
n normalized by
Z
m
Qm
(5)
n (cos ) Qn (cos ) sin d = n,n .
0

This basis yields a block diagonalization of the convolution operator (see [1])

1 X
1
=
d
ab n=0

n
X

n
X

i(mm )
m

dnmm Qm
,
n (cos ) Qn (cos ) e

m=n
m =n
nm even nm even

with dnmm =

m
Qm
n (0) Qn (0)
2n + 1

2
0

ei(mm )
q

b
a

cos2 +

a
b

sin2

d.

(6)

The functions f and g can be expanded in this basis as

u(, ) =

m
im
um
n Qn (cos ) e

n=0

m=n
nm even

/2

with
um
n =

n
X

with u = f or g

(7)

2
0

im
u(, ) Qm
sin()dd.
n (cos ) e

Due to (6), coefficients fnm are related to gnm by

n
X

ab
m
fn =
dnmm gnm .
4

(8)

(9)

m =n
nm even

Moreover, the orthogonal properties of the spectral basis yield

X

dnmm gnm gnm ,

I = (ab)3/2
4

n,m,m

where we have shorten the notation by making implicit the range of the summation index. Indices n, n are varying from 0 to , and m, m are such that
|m| n, |m | n , n m and n m even. Substituting expression (6) for
dnmm and introducing the eccentricity of the ellipse , we get

I = ab2

n,m,m

gnm gnm

m
Qm
n (0) Qn (0)
2n + 1

/2
0

cos(m m )
p
d.
1 2 cos2

(10)

3. Electrostatic energy for an affine distribution of charges

This section is dedicated to the calculation of the electrostatic energy generated by an affine density of charges.
Proof of Theorem 1.1. Let 0 (x) = 1, 1 (x) = x1 /a and 2 (x) = x2 /b. In
view of the symmetry of A with respect to x1 and x2 , we have
Z
Z
1
i (x)j (y)
for i 6= j.
dsx dsy = 0
|x y|
A 4 A
Consequently, the electrostatic energy I can be expanded as
I = 02 I0 + 12 I1 + 22 I2
The result will follow from the computation of I0 , I1 and I2 .
3.1. Computation of I0
For (x) = 0 (x) = 1, the function g(, ) = cos does not depend on .
The gnm coefficients are independent from a and b, and since gnm = 0 for all
3

m 6= 0, the function g can be expanded as g() =

+
X

gn0 Q0n (cos ) . Due to

n=0

(10), the electrostatic energy I0 depends only on a and b and is given by

+
X
|gn0 |2 Q0n (0)
I0 (a, b) = ab
2n + 1
n=0
2

2 Z

/2

d
p

1 2 cos2

= ab2 K(), (11)

with = 1 b2 /a2 and a constant depending neither on a nor on b. The

constant is deduced from the classical case of an unit circle which has been
detailed for example in [2]
Z
Z
1
1
I0 (1, 1) =
(12)
dsx dsy = 4/3.
C 4 C |x y|
Comparing (11) and (12), this yields to = 8/3 since K(0) = /2. Therefore,
I0 =

8
ab2 K().
3

(13)

3.2. Computation of I1
For (x) = 1 (x) = x1 /a, the function g is given by g(, ) = sin cos cos .
In that case, the gnm are zero except for |m| = 1. By definition of the Legen1
dre functions, we have Q1
n = Qn . As the function g is even, it comes that
1
1
gn = gn , and thus
#

"
Z /2
X gn1 Q1n (0) 2 Z /2
d
cos 2 d
2
p
p
+2
I1 = ab
2
.
2n + 1
1 2 cos2
1 2 cos2
0
0
n
Due to (3), it comes

I1 (a, b) = ab2

K() E()
.
2

(14)

To determine the constant , we consider again the case of an unit circle. In

this case, I1 can be explicitly computed, see Appendix A, and is given by
I1 (1, 1) = 2/15. Evaluating (14) at a = b = 1 we get
I1 (1, 1) =

since lim

K() E()
= .
2
4

(15)

It follows that = 8/15 and therefore we have

I1 =

8
K() E()
.
ab2
15
2

(16)

3.3. Computation of I2
For I2 , we consider (x) = 2 (x) = x2 /b, meaning g(, ) = sin cos sin .
We still have gnm = 0 except for |m| = 1, but in that case, gn1 = gn1 . Thus
#

2 " Z /2
Z /2
+
1 1
X
g
Q
(0)
d
cos
2
d
n
n
p
p
2
2
I2 = ab2
2n + 1
1 2 cos2
1 2 cos2
0
0
n=0

Moreover, both integrals I1 and I2 are equal on C due to symmetry. We obtain



K() E()
8
I 2 =
.
(17)
ab2 K()
15
2
4. Numerical tests and conclusion
Tables 1 and 2 yield a comparison of exact values given by an analytical expression with numerical approximate values obtained by the boundary element
code CESC of CERFACS with a P 1 continuous elements. It can be observed
that the two values coincide at least up to the fourth decimal digit. Table 3
despictes the maximum relative error for each of tables 1 and 2 cases, which is
less than 0.35 per mil.
a

0.5

0.7

0.9

1.1

1.3

1.5

Icomp
0
Iexact
0

0.1666
0.1666

0.2741
0.2741

0.3939
0.3939

0.5234
0.5234

0.6608
0.6608

0.8048
0.8048

Icomp
101
1
exact
I 1
101

0.0417
0.0417

0.1455
0.1456

0.3651
0.3656

0.7535
0.7543

1.3715
1.3717

2.2781
2.2800

Icomp
102
2
2
10
Iexact
2

0.4167
0.4167

0.6280
0.6280

0.8426
0.8427

1.0585
1.0586

1.2748
1.2748

1.4910
1.4911

and Icomp
for
Table 1: Exact and computed values of the electrostatic energy Iexact
i
i
an elliptical disc with a minor axis b = 0.5, given by (13), (16), (17) .

0.75

0.9

1.05

1.2

1.35

1.5

Icomp
Iexact

2.7734
2.7736

3.6157
3.6159

4.5162
4.5165

5.4706
5.4708

6.4761
6.4763

7.5313
7.5316

Table 2: Affine density of charges = x1 + 2x2 + 3 for an elliptical disc with b = 0.5.

rel

I 0

I 1

I 2

0.055 0/00

0.195 0/00

9.1 104 0/00

0.334 0/00

Table 3: Maximum value of the relative error rel = max |Iexact

Icomp
| in per mil
i
i
for an elliptical disc for b = 0.5 and a = 0.5 : 0.05 : 1.5.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their thanks to A. Bendali (INSA) for
fruitfull discussions and M. Fares (CERFACS) for the numerical computations
achieved with the CERFACS code CESC. A part of this work was supported by
the French National Research Agency under grant no. ANR08SYSC001.
Appendix A. The case of an unit circle disc
Let C be the circle with radius 1. We aim here in computing the integral
Z
x 1 y1
1
IC =
dsx dsy
4 C |x y|
This integral is rewritten in polar coordinates (r, for x and , for y)
IC

1
=
4

2
0

1
0

2
0

r cos cos
p

r2 + 2 2r cos( )

rdrd dd

and evaluated tanks to the formula (3.4.5) of [3, p70]

Z

2
0

cos d
4 cos
p
=
r
2 + r2 2r cos( )

min(,r)

This leads to
IC

1
=

1
0

1
0

min(,r)
0

r t2
p
drddt

2 t 2 r 2 t 2
Z

This integral is symmetric in and r, and since

IC = 2

t2
t=0

1
=t

p
2
t2

1
r=

t2 dt
.

2 t2 r2 t2

cos2 d .
0

cos2 d = , we have

2
r
dr d dt =
.
2
15
t

r2

References
[1] F. Leppington, H. Levine, Reflexion and transmission at a plane screen with
periodically arranged circular or elliptical apertures, J. Fluid Mech 61 (1973)
109127.
[2] S. Laurens, S. Tordeux, A. Bendali, M. Fares, R. Kotiuga, Lower and upper bounds for the Rayleigh conductivity of a perforated plate, submitted,
http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00686438.
[3] E. Copson, On the problem of the electrified disc, Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society (Series 2) 8 (01) (1947) 1419.
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