Charge Simulation and Interactive Computer Graphics in a First Course in Applied Electromagnetics

A personal computer program for analysis of electrostatic boundary value problems, based upon charge simulation, is described. The program provides students in the Electrical Engineering curriculum at Carnegie-Mellon University with color graphics representations of potential field structures for arbitrary boundary geometries, specified with a graphics tablet or input data file. Charge simulation is an attractive numerical analysis tool in an educational context because it is based upon the natural relationships between boundary charge distribution and resultant field structure. A number of examples of specific applications of the program are shown.