Electrodynamic Dust Shield — Discrete Multi-Phase Electrode Field (2D)

This 2D companion to the 3D electrodynamic dust shield simulator computes the traveling electric field from first principles instead of assuming its closed form. Every electrode strip under the panel is modeled as an individual 2D line charge whose linear charge density tracks its own instantaneous drive voltage, phase-shifted from its neighbors by the chosen phase count; the field felt by any point above the surface is the real electrostatic superposition of the nearby electrodes' contributions, not a pre-written sinusoid. Numerically, this discrete sum reproduces the expected traveling-wave wavelength (λ = phases × pitch) and phase velocity (v = f·λ) to well under 1% error, and its far-field decay with height converges onto the idealized exponential the 3D sim assumes — while up close it reveals a genuine near-field ripple, more pronounced at low phase counts, that a real dust-shield designer has to trade off against drive-electronics complexity. Adjust voltage, frequency, pitch, phase count and surface gravity to see how each reshapes the field the charged regolith grains actually respond to.