Dragan Poljak, full professor at the Department of Electronics, University of Split, Croatia presented a special seminar at Ashurst Lodge entitled: Human Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields from Power Lines and Transformer Substations.
Dragan also referred to the biological effects of the very low frequency fields produced by power lines and transformer substations, in the range of 50 to 60 Hz. This is important in view of the increasing concern that these fields may be harmful to human health.
Dragan has analyzed not only the calculation techniques for the assessment of external fields but also the coupling of these fields to the human body using either analytical or numerical models.
Knowing the external electric and magnetic fields, one can readily calculate the axial current density induced in the human body due to the electric field and circular current density induced in the human body due to the magnetic field. In addition, the current density is the most important parameter in quantifying the possible biological effects.
The lecture ended up with a rather lively discussion related to the current research on the subject and in particular to the comparison of the available theoretical and experimental results with relevant limits of exposure.
Wessex Institute