A CLASS OF HYBRID FINITE-ELEMENT METHODS FOR ELECTROMAGNETICS - A REVIEW

Integral equation methods have generally been the workhorse for antenn a and scattering computations. In the case of antennas, they continue to be the prominent computational approach, but for scattering applica tions the requirement for large-scale computations has turned research ers' attention to near neighbor methods such as the finite element met hod, which has low O(N) storage requirements and is readily adaptable in modeling complex geometrical features and material inhomogeneities. In this paper, we review three hybrid finite element methods for simu lating composite scatterers, conformal microstrip antennas and finite periodic arrays. Specifically, we discuss the finite element method an d its application to electromagnetic problems when combined with the b oundary integral, absorbing boundary conditions and artificial absorbe rs for terminating the mesh. Particular attention is given to large-sc ale simulations, methods and solvers for achieving low memory requirem ents and code performance on parallel computing architectures.