FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS (FEA) AS AN EMC PREDICTION TOOL

As electronic system complexity increases, the design and analysis too ls must keep pace. In the mechanics, structures, and fluids discipline s, numerical tools, such as finite-element analysis (FEA) have become commonplace in the designers tool kit. In electromagnetics (EM) such a nalysis tools are still in their infancy. Electromagnetic compatibilit y (EMC) analysis has been primarily limited to the analysis of simple equivalent circuit models or measurements of a completed design. Few r eliable methods exist to predict the EMC of a complex system or group of systems before it leaves the designer's desk. Powerful electromagne tic software based on FEA techniques is now becoming commercially avai lable. These programs are potentially capable of analyzing the complex electromagnetic environment surrounding modern shipboard electronic s ystems and/or antennas. This paper discusses the output of one FEA pro gram used as a compartmental EMC predictive tool. The FEA program resu lts are compared to the calculated results from a typical radiating EM I source, a radiating wire over a ground plane, and compares both pred ictions with validating measurements.