EDGE-BASED FEM SOLUTION OF SCATTERING FROM INHOMOGENEOUS AND ANISOTROPIC OBJECTS

This paper presents an application of the edge-based vector finite ele ment method to scattering problems of anisotropic and inhomogeneous ob jects. Based on conventional FEM functional, a hybrid finite element-s urface integral formulation is established by introducing permittivity and permeability tensors. The space domain is divided into interior a nd exterior regions by an imaginary surface conformal to the scatterer . Edge vector finite elements are used to model the anisotropic and in homogeneous interior, and a surface integral equation is used to model the unbounded exterior. Compared to other hybrid techniques, the appr oach here retains the symmetry and sparsity of the FEM matrix and intr oduces only one type of unknown equivalent current in the moment matri x equation. To validate the theory, typical 2-D numerical results are first presented, which show excellent agreement with exact eigenmode e xpansion solutions or accurate MoM data.