3-DIMENSIONAL ELECTROMAGNETIC-FIELD COMPUTATION BY THE MULTISCALAR BOUNDARY-ELEMENT METHOD

A new frequency domain iterative three-dimensional surface integral eq uation method (SIE) is proposed and tested in a number of electromagne tic computation problems. In contrast to the usual surface current SIE formulation, it is formulated by applying the scalar Green's theorem to the three Cartesian components of the magnetic field independently. The boundary conditions are implemented iteratively. Numerical result s are given in three areas of electromagnetic computation: eddy curren t induction, EM. wave scattering off dielectric targets, and the EM re sponse of a conductor in a conductive host. Some of our numerical resu lts involve two boundaries. Comparisons are made with previously publi shed results where available, and close quantitative agreement is foun d. The numerical results show that the method can handle a very wide r ange in conductivity (up to 10(15)) and in dielectric constant (up to 150) without encountering numerical instability. Whether the method wi ll always yield a convergent solution for different kinds of EM proble ms is yet to be studied, but for problems for which convergence can be achieved, we found the method has advantages in terms of computer ope rations and storage over existing techniques.