THE FEMAX FINITE-ELEMENT PACKAGE FOR COMPUTING THREE-DIMENSIONAL ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS

Abstract

The structure and the properties of the FEMAX package are discussed. The FEMAX finite-element package is an efficient and highly accurate package especially designed for computing three-dimensional transient as well as time-harmonic electromagnetic fields in arbitrarily inhomogeneous, (an)isotropic media. The most unique features of the FEMAX package are that 1) the electric field strength is computed directly, i.e. without the intermediate use of (vector) potentials, 2) when inhomogeneities are encountered in the domain of computation, the package automatically chooses edge elements to ensure that all local continuity conditions can be met, nodal elements are used elsewhere, and 3) that the electromagnetic compatibility relations are taken into account in the formulation of the finite-element method used, thus avoiding spurious solutions. These features are included in the package in such a way that optimum results are obtained both in regard to computational efficiency (storage and time) and in regard to the desired accuracy. [Vol. 11, No. 2 (1996), pp 24-31]