Aerial and Buried Wires above Stratified Dispersive Media

This paper discusses plane wave reflection and transmission characteristics for soils which are modeled as plane, stratified media with frequency-dependent constitutive parameters. Values selected for soil conductivity and electrical permittivity in each layer of soil were based upon measurements of water content as a function of depth obtained from U.S. Geological Survey data. Currents induced by plane wave illumination are calculated for long wires above and below ground. The results are compared to those obtained from simplified soil models which ignore the frequency-dependence of the constitutive parameters. Currents calculated for buried and aerial wires with near grazing incidence were found to display a strong dependence upon details of the soil model due to attenuation and reflections which occur during wave propagation through stratified, conductive media.