180 IEEE TRANSACTIONSON MICROWAVETHEORYAND TECHNIQUES,VOL.

MlT34, NO, 1, JANUARY 1986

--r f~

(Ax
x-i Fig. 1. Open-cmcuited two-wire transmission line. d N the center-to-center

Fig.
20

3. C/C= 8,76.
I spacing; a is the radms of the wires.

y,,
UNIT LENGTH
Case 5: An arbitrary location of a rod and side walls are taken
into account (Fig. 3).

IV. CONCLUSION

A simple way to solve the general case of circular rods has been --- -0
shown. The results are very similar to those of Cristal, the only
deviation being in the case of extreme differences in the diame-
--- -0
ters and the proximity of rods, which is to be expected. This
solution
beyond
is
Cristal’s
useful for
data
wide-band
range, for
filters,
unsymmetrical
the data of
structures,
which are
and
1--1 61

Fig. 2 End effect eqmvalence of fringing capacitance and Iengthenmg of

also for ordinary cases because of the easy programming and hne,
short time of calculation. The program was run on Eclipse C-330.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT For this case, no data seem to have been published. In this short
paper, we give the results of a determination of the fringing
The author would like to thank Dr. I. Kozma for his helpful
capacitance and the radiation conductance associated with the
advice.
open circuit.

REFEMNcEs
IL THEORY
[1] E. G. Cm.tal, “Coupled cmular cyhndncal rods between parallel ground
planes,” IEEE Tmms. Muowme Theory Tech., vol MTT-12, pp. 428-439, Consider the line shown in Fig. 1 and suppose that it is open
July 1964.
circuited by a cutting plane normal to its axis. In the vicinity of
[2] D W, Kammler, “ Caiculatlon of characteristic admittances and coupling
coefficients for strip transmission lines.” IEEE Trans. Microwaoe Theo~ the open-circuit plane, there is a fringing electric field which
Tech., VO] M’IT-16, pp. 925-937, Nov. 1968. stores excess electric energy. Circuitally, its effect may be repre-
[3] P. C Chestnut, “On determining the capacitance of sluelded multiconduc-
sented by terminating the uniform line in a capacitance C,. If the
tor transrnrsslon lines.” IEEE Trans. Microwave Theo~ rmd Tech , vol
MTT-17, pp. 734-745, Oct. 1969 line has a capacitance Co per unit length, this is equivalent to
saying that the line is effectively lengthened by an amount

81=cf/co. (1)

This formula is exact for static fields. For high-frequency fields, it

is a good approximation when 81 is small compared with the
wavelength. The effective position of the open circuit is to the
right of the open-circuiting plane by an amount of 81, as il-
End Effect in Open-Circuited Two-Wire lustrated in Fig. 2.
Transmission Lhes In theory, Cf can be found by solving Laplace’s equation.
However, for this geometry, that equation is not separable and
H, E. GREEN, SENrOR MEMBER, IEEE,
there seems to be no obvious simplifying approximation. More-
AND J. D. CASHMAN. MEMBER. IEEE
over, because of the three-dimensional nature of the problem,
numerical methods are not inviting [2]. Resort to experiment
Abstract —Thk paper gives the parameters of an equivalent circuit
representing the end effect in an open-circuited two-wire transmission line. therefore suggests itself as an alternative. If the total capacity is
The complete equivalent circuit requires termination of the fine in a measured as a function of the length of the sample, then it will
parallel combination of capacitance and conductance, but it is shown that in have the form
all practical cases, capacitive effects dominate.
C,=col+cf =COI+C081 (2]

I. INTRODUCTION in which (1) has been used to obtain the rightmost expression.
The need to design a probe for in sztu measurement of the This equation plots as a straight line from which 81 can be found
electrical properties of soil [1] has created an interest in the end simply as the negative of its intersection with the horizontal axis.

effect at an open circuit in a balanced two-wire transmission line. Because, in measuring the capacitance, it is difficult to com-
pensate for stray effects which themselves are comparable with

Manuscript received March 18, 1985; revised July 30, 1985. the quantity to be measured, it was decided to measure the
The authors are with the Department of Electrical and Electrornc Engineer- analogous conductance using an electrolytic tank. As is well
ing, Umversity of New South Wales, Faculty of Military Studies, Royal
known, if a given conductor geometry is first immersed in a
Mditaxy College, Duntroon, ACT 2600. Australia.
IEEE Log Number 8405822. dielectric medium of permittivity c and then in a conducting

0018 -9480/86 /0100-0180$01 .00 ~1986 IEEE

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 IEEE TRANSACTIONSON MICROWAVETHEORYAND TECHNIQUES,VOL. MlT34, NO, L JANUARY 1986 181

medium of conductivity y u, the ratio of the measured capacitance 0,7 r

to the measured conductance will be

0,6. .

(3)
0,5- .

Hence, we may find 81 by plotting the conductance as a function

0,4- .
of the depth of immersion of the two-wire line in a conducting N
solution and taking the negative of the intersection with the 7
0,3- ,
horizontal axis. Note that to determine 81 in this way, it is not
necessary to know the conductivity of the electrolyte or the
0,2-
constant of proportionality between conductance and capaci-
tance, provided that they remain constant during any set of
0,1. .
measurements.

123&5
III. N4EASUREMENTS -1 Q
Co* 2a
Some precautions are required to obtain a valid result in such
Fig. 3 Normalized lengtherung of Ime versus normahzed hne impedance,
an experiment. The fringing field extends to both sides of the
Error bars show 99-percent confidence levels. The curve is fitted to the mean
open-circuiting plane and essentially is not fully contained until values of the measurements.
the depth of immersion is at least one quarter of the line spacing.
On the opposite side of the open-circuiting plane, in theory the
measurement requires that it remains essentially constant during
fringing field extends to infinity. In practice, this means that the
any one immersion.
tank must be adequately deep so that, at greatest immersion, a
space markedly larger than the line spacing should remain be-
IV. I@ULTS
tween the open-circuiting plane and the bottom of the tank.
Moreover, the cross-section dimensions of the tank normal to the
For each immersion of each specimen, the set of results ob-

axis of the line need to be considerably greater than the line

tained was fitted with a best-fit straight line using a least-squares

spacing. If an insulating tank is used, it is analogous to enclosing criterion, and from this 81 determined. From the 10 measure-
ments of 81 made on each specimen, a mean ~1 and its standard
the two-wire transmission line in a magnetically conducting shield;
only if the spacing between the line and the shield is large enough
deviation were calculated. Assuming that the measured values are

can its effects on the fringing field be neglected.

drawn from a normal population, with 10 sample values, one can

In these experiments. we used a cuboidal fiberglass tank of be about 99-percent confident that the true value of ~1 lies within

nominal side length 1225 mm to contain the series of lines made plus or minus one standard deviation of the mean [3].

up from 9.525 mm (3/8 in) diameter brass rods with a maximum Fig. 3 shows a graph which displays the measured mean values

center-to-center spacing in any experiment of 706.85 mm (corre- normalized by the conductor spacing together with error bars set

sponding to a line of characte~sti~ impedance 600 G?in air). The at the 99-percent confidence levels. Along the abscissa is the

specimen lines were raised and lowered by means of a screw-driven

quantity cosh- l(d/2a). For a two-wire line [4]

mechanism located over the center of the tank which incorpo- 7rzo d
rated a needle gauge to determine depth of immersion. Such a — . cosh–l — (4)
T 2a
tank holds a little under two metric tons of water which was
rendered conducting by the addition of 86 g of common salt. This where
produced a range of conductance convenient to measure on a
Z. characteristic impedance,
Model B224 Wayne Kerr Universal Bridge. To avoid polarization
v intrinsic impedance of the line dielectric material,
effects, conductivity was measured at a frequency of 1.592 KHz,
d center to center spacing, and
where conductivity effects so dominate any residual capacitive
a conductor radius.
effects that the latter may be assumed of no account.
A series of specimen lines were made up by variation of the
Fig. 3 is therefore equivalent to a plot of the normalized end
position of the rods in the insulating clamp which separated them
effect against the normalized line impedance. It is a universal
to correspond to transmission lines having characteristic imped-
graph, unaffected by the properties of the dielectric filling in the
ances in air varying in 1OO-Q steps from 200 to 600 il. Each line
line. That this is so is readily seen from (1); for a given line, Cf
was measured with at least six different depths of immersion to a
and co are altered in the same way by any change in the
maximum of 500 mm and the experiment was repeated 10 times
dielectric so that their ratio remains constant. This graph allows
for each specimen, there being more than 400 measurements of
the end effect to be determined for lines which in air have
conductivity in all. To ensure homogeneity of the conducting
characteristic impedances ranging between about 200 and 6000,
solution, a plastic pipe was installed in the center of the bottom
more or less all that are of any practical interest.
of the tank and connected to a centrifugal pump which drew in
For many purposes, particularly for use on a computer, it is
water and discharged it back into the top of the tank at the four
inconvenient to have the data in graphical form. We have there-
comers. Before each measurement session, the pump was run for
fore fitted it with the following empirical equation:
about an hour and then stopped to allow the water to become
still. As a routine precaution, perhaps not really required with so 81 1
— — (5)
large a thermrd mass, the water temperature was compared before . .
d
and after each set of measurements. The conductivity of a salt
–3.954+ 2.564 cosh-1~ 2+(3.954)2
solution varies with temperature and, as mentioned above, a valid I( )

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 182 IEEE TRANSACTIONSON MICROWAVETHEORYAND TECHNIQUES,VOL. MTT-34, NO. 1, JANUARY 1986

which, as Fig. 3 shows, at each of the d/2a values used in the ReferenCeS
measurements is indistinguishably different from the measured [1] P. N. Hill and H. E. Green, “In situ measurement of soil permittiwty and
mean. The empirical equation is a weighted least-squares fit to permeabihty,” JEEEA, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 202-208, Dec. 1982,
[2] D. H. Sirrnott, G. K. Cambrell, C T. Carson, and H, E, Green, “The
the data, in which the weights were chosen in inverse proportion finite difference solutlon of microwave circuit problems;’ IEEE Trans.
to the lengths of the error bars in Fig. 3. A formula of this kind Mzo’owuue Theo<v Tech., vol. MTT-17, pp. 464-478, Apr 1969.
[3] R E. Walpole and R. H. Myers, Probabdity and Stattsttcs for Engineers
was chosen as, in addition to giving a good fit to the data, it has
rmd Srxenttsts, 1st ed. New York: Macmrllan, 1972.
the correct form of functional behavior for both large and small [4] D. D King. Measurements at Centimeter wavelength. 1st ed. New
arguments. Values in these regions, of course, lie outside the York. Van Nostrand, 1952.
[5] J. D. Jackson, Cla.rszcu[ Efectrodynumlcs, 4th ed. New York: Wiley,
range of the measurements and represent an extrapolation in
1965
which there must necessarily be less confidence.

V. RADIATION CONDUCTANCE

At high frequencies, the transmission line will radiate from its

open end. The excess charge on each wire in the vicinity of the
open circuit may be thought of as generating a dipole moment,
which can then be used to estimate an equivalent conductance Gf
which should appear in parallel with Cf in Fig. 2 to give a
complete equivalent circuit. An Estimate of the Interaction Impedance of a
If there is a voltage ~ across the open circuit, then the Vane-Lmaded Helix Using
equivalent dipole moment will be Equivalent-Circuit Analysis

p = CfVd. (6) VED P. SINGH, B. N. BASU, AND R. K. JHA

An expression for the power radiated by a dipole of moment p

Abstract —The expression for the interaction impedance of a broad-band
can be found in a number of standard texts (e.g., [5]) and by
vane-loaded heiical slow-wave structure has been found using Plercek
settingthisequal to F’zGf, an expression for the radiation con- simple theory for a helix in free space, and the results of the equivalent-cir-
ductance is readily determined in terms of the fringing capaci- cuit analysis of the loaded structnre. The interaction impedance has been
tance and the geometric constants of the line. Drawing together found to be of the order of half the characteristic impedance in a typical
the previous results, it is thus easily shown that the normalized loaded strocture. The dependence of the smafl-signal gain on the thickness
radiation conductance is of the helix wire, the sixe of the vanes, and the location of the metal
envelope has been predicted.

(kd)’(;)’ I. INTRODUCTION
ZOGf = (7)
n-z. Recently, we presented in this TRANSACTIONS an equivalent-
12 — circuit amilysis of the vane-loaded helical slow-wave structure
() ~
and, hence, predicted its optimum vane dimension leading to a
where k is the wavenumber. Since kd must be smrdl in any cdispersion-free’ behavior [1]. The vane-loaded structure was
practicaf transmission line, it is clear that the radiation conduc- estimated to have a higher value of characteristic impedance than
tance is always small and the end effect primarily capacitive. an identical vaneless structure. A more realistic parameter than
the characteristic impedance, not considered in this analysis, is
VI. CONCLUSION
the interaction impedance of the structure. This is done here by
By means of experiments in art electrolytic tank, we have suitably interpreting the expression for the interaction impedance
obtained data which allows determination of the effective posi- of a helix in free space [2] with the help of the results of the
tion of the open circuit at the end of an open-circuited solid-con- equivalent-circuit analysis of the vane-loaded helical slow-wave
ductor two-wire line. The data cover nearly all practical char- structure [1].
acteristic impedances, and an empirical formula is provided which
II. THEORETICAL FORMULA
allows easy input of the data to a computer. It has been shown
that this is also sufficient information from which to estimate the The analytical results for a vane-loaded helix may be so
radiation conductance associated with the fringing capacity in the interpreted as to consider such a structure as embedded in a
equivalent circuit of the discontinuity. However, this conductance medium extended in dimensions to infinity and supposedly of
is so small in any practical transmission line that it is always safe relative permeability aL = L/LO, and relative permittivity ac =
to assume that the discontinuity effect is capacitive. The data C/cO, where L and C are, respectively, the inductance per unit
presented are extendable to the case of a rod lying parallel to an length and the capacitance per unit length of the vane-loaded
infinite ground plane. structure [1], and LO and CO are the corresponding quantities for
an identical helix in free space [1]. The impedance parameter F’
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
of such a structure then may be written by replacing p. and co
The authors would like to acknowledge the efforts of L. Whyte,
who designed the apparatus used in the experiment, S. Roberts,
Manuscript received March 1 S, 1985; revised July 29, 1985. This work was
who constructed it, H. Gibbs, who assisted with the computa- supported in part by the Department of Electronics, Government of India.
tions, C. Jordan, who drew the illustrations, and the technical The authors are with the Centre of Research m Microwave Tubes, Depart-
ment of Electronics Engineering, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu
staff of their Department who painstakingly carried out between University, Varemasi-221005, India
them the several hundred conductance measurements required. IEEE Log Number 8405934.

0018 -9480/86/0100-0182$01 .00 Q986 IEEE

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