Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the electrostatic charge distribution on arbitrarily shaped conductor surfaces. Following a perturbative approach, we derive an approximate analytical formulation of the problem. We start from the known case of a conducting ellipsoid, we adopt a deformed ellipsoidal coordinate system, and we search for the zero-order approximated solution of the problem. We also focus on arbitrary-shaped thin foils, showing that the charge density is divergent on their borders. We then define the applicability range of the proposed approach expressing the contour equation as the Fourier series. Finally, we present a detailed error analysis for several polygonal contours, comparing the analytical results with those obtained via a numerical analysis based on the Finite Element Methods (FEM).