The theory of scaled electromagnetism

Abstract

Scaled experimentation is an important experimental approach but is known to be limited by scale effects, which have the undesirable effect of changing the behaviour of a system with scale. Such behavioural changes with scale can on occasions be so marked as to make a scaled experiment almost worthless. Until very recently, there has been no universal solution to this problem with most scaled experiments founded on dimensional analysis and modified necessarily with ad hoc scaling rules. This article is concerned with the development and the application of a new approach to scaled experimentation called finite similitude for electro-magnetic systems. It is shown how the finite similitude theory can be applied to electromagnetism and the governing Maxwell equations in their macroscopic form. The ability of the theory to account for scale dependencies is investigated to reveal the benefits of performing two scaled experiments in describing system behaviour.