The paper describes a CAD experiment for teaching electrostatic using field simulators based on finite element methods. Difficulties related to accessibility of the field simulation software accessibility are addressed. Recommendations on the choice and preparation of the experiments are given. Different configurations of a flat parallel-plate capacitor are used to probe local phenomena and compute global characteristics. A comparison study of analytical and numerical methods for the calculation of capacitance and electrostatic force is included.
capacitance; finite element methods; simulation software
