Predicting the influence of plate geometry on the eddy-current pendulum
Predicting the influence of plate geometry on the eddy-current pendulum
We quantitatively analyze a familiar classroom demonstration, Van Waltenhofen's eddy current pendulum, to predict the damping effect for a variety of plate geometries from first principles. Results from conformal mapping, finite element simulations and a simplified model suitable for introductory classes are compared with experiments.