Ansys Maxwell -- how to ground an insulator?

[M Umair Wali]

Can anyone guide me about how to ground an insulator using Ansys Maxwell 2015?

 

[.Scott]

Just to be clear, ANSYS Maxwell is simulation software.
An electrical insulator cannot be grounded. Only electrical conductors can be grounded.
Perhaps I am not understanding your question.

 

[M Umair Wali]

actually, i want to design a line having conductor and an insulator and I want to watch the leakage current that flows to the insulator and the behavior of fields around an insulator
so, i have designed an insulator and conductor but i don't have a knowledge about grounding...in maxwell...can u guide me about that??

 

[.Scott]

I have not used Maxwell 3D.
If you make a ceramic insulator, it will by default be part of the model.
I looked at some instructional videos for this package. They seem to be pretty good.
For example, this one:

 

[Tom.G]

First, I've never used Maxwell.
Since Voltage is, by definition, a potential difference, you will have two poles on any voltage source; for DC they will be Positive and Negative. One is connected to your conductor and the other connected to either a return conductor or to a plane that is conceptually Ground. The electric field will be between these conductors.

Case:

1. If you want to find the current thru the insulator:
   You will have to assign some conductivity (in your case maybe resistance) to the insulator. In the real world, the insulator will be mounted on a support of some sort that is typically grounded, otherwise there is no need for an insulator. There must be a conductive path, no matter how high the resistance, from the surface of the insulator to ground.
   
2. If you only want to to see how the electric field is affected by the insulator presence:
   The insulator definition will need both a conductivity^{note 2} and a dielectric constant.

NOTES:
1) For case 1, I expect the dielectric constant would have a very small effect, probably not worth the compute time.
2) Ceramic is a pretty good insulator but surface contamination supplies the significant path for leakage currrents, account for this. It is also slightly porous, and if unglazed, will absorb water vapor, increasing its bulk conductivity and dielectric constant.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Tom