Numerical Methods Workshop

Copyright: David Thiel 2009
Numerical Methods in Electrical

Engineering

Professor David Thiel
Centre for Wireless Monitoring and
Applications
Griffith University, Brisbane Australia
Purpose
This is a follow-on workshop from the
Optimization workshop.
The aim is to introduce two methods of
electromagnetic modelling:
The Method of Moments (MoM): frequency domain,
open boundaries.
The Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD): time
domain, closed boundaries.
To outline the validation processes essential to
obtaining reliable solutions.
My interest?
I wished to solve some fundamental problems in
electromagnetic geophysics where subsurface
targets were small and the earth was both highly
conductive and semi-infinite.
I have worked with many numerical EM
techniques including
MoM
FDTD
Impedance method
FEM
FDM
Spice (Circuit simulator)
Topics
1. Overview of Numerical Modelling for
electromagnetics.
2. The Method of Moments.
3. The Finite-Difference Time-domain
method.
4. Review.
Topic 1
Overview of the Modelling Process
Why numerical modelling?
To reduce the number of prototypes
constructed.
To use as the forward solver in an
optimization routine to gain the best
possible design.

What are the alternatives?
Design and build lots of physical models
Time consuming
Expensive
Measurement difficulties (cables, calibration,
mechanical precision, interference, mutual
coupling, field confinement, etc)
Analytical solutions
Limited to simple models because of the
computational complexity
But for Verification .
You MUST make a physical model!
You MUST undertake some simple theoretical
modelling for use in your numerical modelling
analysis!

If you dont, you have no verification of your
model and the results are not acceptable for
publication!
This is true EVEN if you use proven
commercial software.
Numerical Modelling Procedure
Select/write your numerical modelling
code.
Find a simple analytical model and divide
into segments/pixels/voxels.
These MUST have every dimension less
than /10 where is the wavelength in the
material being modelled. (Note that this is
NOT the free space wavelength).
Lets do the calculation of
The complex propagation coefficient is given by
the equation

where
o is the conductivity,
c is the absolute permittivity,
is the absolute magnetic permeability,
e is the angular radiation frequency, and j is the
imaginary number,
o is the attenuation constant
| is the phase constant
) ( ec o e | o j j j + = + =
The wavelength in the material
At this frequency we have

The wavelength depths on the electromagnetic
properties of the material.
Remember NO segment/pixel/voxel can be
larger than in any dimension /10 .
This can make life very difficult when you have
electrically large conductive materials.

|
t
2
=
Solution
MoM and FDTD both use perfectly
conducting materials.
To introduce finite conductivity, we can
use lumped impedance elements.
Modelling process
1. Enter the model
2. Pre-processing: Divide the model into
segments/pixels/voxels. You need to know the
coordinates of very line and corner.
3. Apply the solver
4. Post-processing: Extract the important
parameters (gain, front to back ratio, beam
width, bandwidth, input impedance, radiation
pattern, near-field strength etc)

Select/write your numerical modelling
code.
Find a simple analytical model and divide
into segments/pixels/voxels.
Solve the simple model analytically and
numerically.
Compare your solutions.
Alter the segments/pixels/voxel size and
recalculate the numerical model.
Standard numerical modelling test
Recalculate use different sized
segments/pixels/voxels.
Do not use a factor of 2, 5 or 10.
Why?
To ensure that your modelling routine is robust
To assess what accuracy is needed to get good
results
To minimize the number of segments/pixels/voxels in
the model to reduce the computational time and the
memory requirements.
Enter your full model and check results.
Alter the segments/pixels/voxel size and
recalculate the numerical model.
Only when you have robust answers can
you conclude that the model is correct.
It is often a good idea to re-enter the
model to ensure conductor connectivity,
no air gaps, etc.
Reducing the model size
Look for one or more lines of symmetry
and apply a boundary (perfect conductor
or perfect magnetic conductor).
One line of symmetry can halve the
computational effort.
For circular or cylindrical symmetry, you
can change a 3D problem to a 2D or 1D
problem.
Topic 2
The Method of Moments
Background
Numerical technique used to solve integral
equations.
The model common code is the Numerical
Electromagnetics Code (NEC) developed at
Lawrence Livermore Laboratories to check the
effect of EMP on antennas.
Originally created in the 1980s, NEC2 is freely
available.
Now commercially available in more user-
friendly form.
The method is always in 3D.
MoM Basics (1)
The model is constructed of infinitely thin,
perfectly conducting wires.
To construct a plane, you need a 2D
intersecting grid of wires.
To construct a volume, you need a 3D
intersecting grid of wires.
To add loss, each segment must contain a
lumped impedance resistance.

MoM Basics (2)
To account for finite radius, a perturbation
technique is used in the code BUT, the
current on the wire is always axially
symmetric.
If this approximation is not good enough,
you need to construct a cylindrical grid of
wires to represent the conductor of finite
diameter.

MoM Basics (3)
You must add at least one source (voltage or
current) to one of the conducting segments to
provide energy to the system.
NEC2 provides an option for calculations in free
space or calculations in the vicinity of a ground
plane (infinite extent but finite or infinite
conductivity).
The ground plane calculation is done using
image theory and the Sommerfeld surface wave
(if selected).

MoM Basics (4)
The MoM computational engine places all
conductive segments in a matrix and calculates
the induced current in every segment using
mutual coupling equations.
The current on a single straight wire is fitted by a
basis function which smooths the current
transition between segments
The near electric field, the near magnetic field
and the electromagnetic far field (radiated field)
is calculated using the standard Hertzian dipole
formulation.
Pitfalls: Inaccurate results if
Wire segments are too long then incorrect
results (phase errors).
Wire segments are too short then incorrect
results (truncation errors).
Wire segments are too close and not
connected (axial symmetry is not a valid
approximation).

Pitfalls: Inaccurate results if
The feed point(s) is not on a conducting
segment.
The wires do not exactly meet. An air gap
is a major problem.
NEC code
The code was designed for computer card
entry.
Each line contains one piece of
information.
Most codes have a user-friendly interface
and the codes are created semi-
automatically.
NEC Coordinate System
x
y
z
u
|
The xoy plane (z = 0) is where the ground plane is located if used.
Coding Examples
Comment Cards
CM comments - can only be at the start of
the program
CE end comments - only one required.
Coding Examples
Structure Geometry Cards
GA wire arc specification
GE end geometry - 0 means no ground plane
GF use numerical Green's function
GM shift and duplicate structure
GR generate cylindrical structure (symmetry)
GS scale structure dimensions - 0, 0, 1
GW specify wire - number, number of segments in
wire, x1,y1,z1, x2, y2, z2, radius
GX reflect structure
SP specify surface patch
GH generate helix

Coding Cards
Program control cards
FR frequency specification - 0, # of steps, 0, 0, start f, Df
GN ground parameter specification - 0 for free space, 1 for
perfect gnd, 2 finite gnd
LD structure impedance loading - 0 series RLC or 1
parallel RLC, wire #, start seg #, end seg #, R, L, C
EX structure excitation - 0, wire #, segment #, 00, volts
real, volts imag
NT two-port network specification
TL transmission line specification
EN end of data flag
GD additional ground parameter specification
NE near electric field request
NH near magnetic field request
RP radiation pattern - 0, # of q steps, # of | steps, 1000, u
start, | start, Du, D|
Coding Example
NEC Coding example: Dipole antenna in free space
CM Simple dipole antenna in Free Space
CM Optimized for resonance at 300 MHz
CE
GW 1, 9, 0, -.2418, 0, 0, .2418, 0, .0001
GS 0, 0, 1
GE 0
EX 0, 1, 5, 0, 1, 0
FR 0, 1, 0, 0, 300, 1
RP 0, 181, 1, 1000, -90, 0, 1, 1
RP 0, 1, 360, 1000, 90, 0, 1, 1
EN
NEC Activity

MMANA
http://www.smeter.net/antennas/mmana-
tutorial.php
This is based on Mininec a preNEC
program which is very efficient
computationally.
References
Iskander, M.F., 1992. Electromagnetic fields and
waves, Prentice Hall. (Section 4.9)
Harrington, R.F., 1993. Field computation by
moment methods, IEEE Press.
Guru, B.S., and Hiziroglu, H.R., 1998.
Electromagnetic field theory and fundamentals.
PWS Publishing Company. pp. 530-533.
NEC manual. (on the web)
Sadiku, N.O., 1992. Numerical Techniques in
Electromagnetics, CRC Press. (Section 3.8,
Chapter 5)
Topic 3
Finite-Difference Time-Domain
Background
Method was developed by Yee in 1966 to
perform a direct solution of Maxwells
equations.
Using a Finite-difference scheme for
Maxwells equations, the method
calculates the magnetic and then the
electric field components through space
containing the objects(s) after each time
step.

Background
By directly calculating electric and
magnetic fields through space, the
technique inherently includes all EM
phenomena including:
Surface waves
Far field values (Radiated waves)
Near field values
Mutual coupling
Background
By recording the time dependent field
strength at various places in the solution
space, it is possible to calculate
parameters such as:
Input impedance
Radiation pattern
Reflection coefficients
Effective dielectric constant
Background
The system of equations can be solved in
1D (a line), 2D (a surface) and 3D.
Applications
All electromagnetic systems including
EM Couplers
Antennas
UWB systems
Radar crossection
Discontinuities in transmission lines
(microstrip lines, waveguides, etc)
electromagnetic geophysics
etc
Basic formulation
The differential form of Maxwells
equations are solved using the central
difference formulation of the partial
differential operator.
If u is a field (H or E), then

x
x x u x x u
dx
x du
A
A A +
~
2
) ( ) ( ) (
0 0 0
( )
2
0 0 0
2
0
2
) ( ) ( 2 ) ( ) (
x
x x u x u x x u
dx
x u d
A
A + A +
~
3D PDE equations
|
|
.
|
\
|
c
c
c
c
=
c
c
x
z
y
x
H
y
E
z
E
t
H
'
1
|
|
.
|
\
|
c
c
c
c
=
c
c
y
x z
y
H
y
E
z
E
t
H
'
1
|
|
.
|
\
|
c
c
c
c
=
c
c
z
y
x z
H
y
E
z
E
t
H
'
1
|
|
.
|
\
|
c
c
c
c
=
c
c
x
y
z x
E
z
H
y
H
t
E
o
c
1
|
|
.
|
\
|

c
c
c
c
=
c
c
y
z x
y
E
x
H
z
H
t
E
o
c
1
|
|
.
|
\
|
c
c
c
c
=
c
c
z
x
y
z
E
y
H
x
H
t
E
o
c
1
2D equations
|
|
.
|
\
|
c
c
c
c
=
c
c
|
.
|
\
|

c
c
=
c
c
|
|
.
|
\
|
c
c
=
c
c
z
x
y
z
y
z
y
x
z x
E
y
H
x
H
t
E
H
x
E
t
H
H
y
E
t
H
o
c
1
'
1
'
1
|
|
.
|
\
|
c
c
c
c
=
c
c
|
.
|
\
|

c
c
=
c
c
|
|
.
|
\
|
c
c
=
c
c
z
y
x z
y
z
y
x
z x
H
x
E
y
E
t
H
E
x
H
t
E
E
y
H
t
E
'
1
1
1
o
c
o
c
TM case TE Case
1D equations
|
|
.
|
\
|
c
c
=
c
c
|
|
.
|
\
|

c
c
=
c
c
z
y
z
y
z
y
E
x
H
t
E
H
x
E
t
H
o
c
1
'
1
|
|
.
|
\
|
c
c
=
c
c
|
.
|
\
|

c
c
=
c
c
z
y
z
y
z
y
H
x
E
t
H
E
x
H
t
E
'
1
1
o
c
TM case TE case
1D Difference Equations
(
=
A
=
A
+
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
H
x
H H
t
E E
H
x
E E
t
H H
o
c
1
1
1
1
1
'
1
Time step equations
( )
( )
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
H
t
E E
x
t
H
E
t
H H
x
t
E
|
|
.
|
\
| A
+
A
A
=
|
.
|
\
|
A
+
A
A
=
c
o
c
'
1
1
1
1
1
1
The E and H fields are not calculated at exactly
the same point so the time at which the
calculations are performed must reflect this.
Chose E and H to be offset by Dx/2 and so the
time spacing between the E and H calculations
must be Dt/2. We must therefore write the
equation as:
( )
( )
1
2 / 1
2 / 1 2 / 1
1
1
2 / 1
2 / 1
2 / 1 2 / 1
2 / 1
1
'
1
+
+ +
+
+
+
+
+
|
.
|
\
|
A
+
A
A
=
|
|
.
|
\
| A
+
A
A
=
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
E
t
H H
x
t
E
H
t
E E
x
t
H
c
o
c

Leap-frog stepping
E is calculated in the half spaces (i+1/2) and at
integer time (n).
H is calculated in the integer spaces (i) and at
half times (n+1/2).
( )
( )
1
2 / 1
2 / 1 2 / 1
1
1
2 / 1
2 / 1
2 / 1 2 / 1
2 / 1
1
'
1
+
+ +
+
+
+
+
+
|
.
|
\
|
A
+
A
A
=
|
|
.
|
\
| A
+
A
A
=
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
n
i
E
t
H H
x
t
E
H
t
E E
x
t
H
c
o
c

Leap-frog stepping update
equations
x
t
n+1
n+1/2
n
n-1/2
n-1
i-1 i-1/2 i i+1/2 i+1
E field
H field
Source Field
This is a time domain method so need a
time domain source.
Simple source is a Gaussian pulse
The pulse is centred at time n
0
and has a
1/e decay constant of n
decay
time steps. The
source field is given by:
| |
2
0
/ ) (
0
decay
n n n
e E E

=
Gaussian pulse

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
Time step
E

f
i
e
l
d
Gaussian pulse source
n
0
= 4n
decay

n
decay
= 10
Source Field
This can be applied at any time and any E
field place.
An H field source can be used at an H field
place.
This is called a hard source as the field is
fixed by the equation.
Usually need to use a soft source which
includes energy from other nodes.
Soft Source Field
E
i
n
is calculated from the update
equations.
| |
n
i
n n n
n
si
E e E E
decay
2 / 1
/ ) (
0 2 / 1
2
0
+

+
+ =
Boundary Conditions
The FDTD method is a closed method.
It is essential to treat every boundary in
some way.
At PEC (perfect electric conductor) we
have:

In 1D we have E = 0 at the boundary.
incident reflected
E E
tan tan
=
Boundary Conditions
The FDTD method is a closed method.
It is essential to treat every boundary in
some way.
At PMC (perfect magnetic conductor) we
have:

In 1D we have H = 0 at the boundary.
incident reflected
H H
tan tan
=
Absorbing Boundary (ABC)
This is quite difficult to manage when the
angle of incidence is oblique.
Murs ABC in 2D

In 1D we have E
i+1/2
n+1
= E
i-1/2
n

Berenger used a multilayered PML
( )
n
j i
n
j i
n
j i
n
j i
E E
x t c
x t c
E E
2 / 1 , 2 / 1
1
2 / 1 , 2 / 1 2 / 1 , 2 / 1
1
2 / 1 , 2 / 1 + +
+
+ +
+
+ +

A + A
A A
+ =
Courant Condition
Time step increments must be sufficiently
small to ensure a stable process.

In 2D

In 1D

( ) ( ) ( )
2 2 2
1 1 1
1
z y x
c
t
A
+
A
+
A
s A
2 c
s
t
A
s A
3 c
s
t
A
s A
Workshop
Run the program FDTD1D.m
Read the program and identify the
components.
Change the two boundaries
Change the material properties

Transform to Frequency domain
Record E(t) at one point in the solution
space for the duration of the pulse (There
must be energy loss in the system either
through an ABC, PML or conductive
material).
E(e) the Fourier transform of E(t).

Student Evaluation of Course
Survey!
References
Taflove, A., 1995. Computational Electrodynamics: the Finite-difference Time-domain
Method, Norwood, MA: Artech House.
Kunz, K.S., and R.J. Luebbers, 1993. The Finite Difference Time Domain Method for
Electromagnetics, Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Stutzman, W.L., & Thiele, G.A., 1998. Antenna theory and design, 2nd ed., Wiley
(Chapter 11)
Berenger, J.P., 1994. A perfectly matched layer for the absorption of electromagnetic
waves. J. Computational Physics, vol 114, pp. 185-200.
Isaacson, E., & Keller, H.B., 1967. Analysis of numerical methods. Wiley, New York.
Mur, G., 1981. Absorbing boundary conditions for the finite-difference approximation
of the time-domain electromagnetic field equations. IEEE Trans. Electromagnetic
Compatability, vol. 23, pp. 377-382.
Sadiku, M.N.O., 1992. Numerical techniques in electromagnetics, CRC Press, Boca
Raton. Section 3.8.
Thiel, D.V., & Mittra, R., 1997. Surface impedance modelling using the finite-
difference time-domain method. IEEE Trans. Geoscience & Remote Sensing, vol 35,
pp. 1350-1356.
Yee, K.S., 1966. Numerical solution of initial boundary value problems involving
Maxwell's equations in isotropic media. IEEE Trans AP-14, pp 302-307.

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