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Staggered-grid finite element solution technique for the Maxwell's equations in the time domain

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6965060

In this paper, the authors present a two-dimensional Galerkin finite element formulation of the Maxwell's equations in the time domain. The Galerkin element integrals are computed analytically and an explicit forward-backward time integration scheme is employed for advancing the resulting set of ordinary differential equations in time. The authors will compare two formulations of the simple 4-node bilinear element: (i) an equal-order interpolation element in which both the electric field and the magnetic field are approximated by bilinear basis functions; and (ii) a mixed-interpolation element in which the electric field is approximated as piecewise constant and the magnetic field as piecewise bilinear functions. The mixed formulation may be viewed as a finite element analog to certain staggered finite difference representations. Numerical examples will be presented to evaluate the accuracy of these two elements.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
6965060
Report Number(s):
UCRL-98822; CONF-8806147-1; ON: DE88011731
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English