FINITE-ELEMENT MICROMAGNETIC SIMULATIONS WITH ADAPTIVE MESH REFINEMENT

The finite element method has recently been employed in investigating magnetization processes in materials with an irregular microstructure. In order to improve the accuracy of the solution, a method based on a n adaptive refinement scheme is clearly desirable. Error control is es sential if accuracy of results is to be optimal. We have applied an ad aptive scheme to a system of interacting two-dimensional polycrystalli ne grains. The error estimator is based on the divergence and curl of both the magnetization and demagnetizing field. It is shown that incre asing levels of discretization improve the micromagnetic solution, and the spatial localization of the additional nodes demonstrates the imp ortance of the adaptive meshing technique. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.