Currents induced in the human body for exposure to ultrawideband electromagnetic pulses

Journal ArticleThe frequency-dependent finite-difference time-domain [(FD)2TD] method is used to calculate internal electric fields and induced current densities in a 1.31-cm resolution anatomically-based model of the human body for exposure to ultrawideband vertically polarized electromagnetic pulses (EMP's). From a single (FD)2TD simulation, two ultrawideband pulses with frequencies up to 1500 MHz are examined using a convolution technique. The complex permittivities ε* (Τ_x001C_) for the various tissues are known to vary a great deal over the wide bandwidth of these two pulses. In the (FD)2TD formulation, these frequency-dependent ε* (Τ_x001C_) are described by the best-fit second-order Debye equations for the sixteen tissues that are used to define the anatomically-based model. The vertical currents passing through several sections of the body are compared for a shoe-wearing model standing on a perfectly conducting ground plane, and a barefoot model suspended in air. For the first pulse, currents on the order of 1 to 4 mA per V/m of incident fields are calculated with the highest values calculated for the sections through the bladder and slightly above it. For the second pulse, currents on the order of 4 mA per V/m of incident fields were calculated