Eur. Phys. J. B 16, 43-48 (2000)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510070247

The use of energy and co-energy for the evaluation of forces in non-linear, anisotropic dielectric solids

Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, via Claudio 21, Università Federico II, 80125 Napoli, Italy

Received: 13 December 1999
Published online: 15 July 2000

Abstract

In this paper, in spite of the wide diffusion of the method that makes use of suitable variations of the electric energy (or co-energy) for computing forces in non-linear, anisotropic dielectric solids, it is shown that the arguments generally developed to justify this approach are, in reality, unsound. A rigorous proof of the correctness of the method is provided. It is shown also that the method is frequently used in cases where it fails; to this end, the limitations of the method itself are pointed out.