Enriched finite elements for initial-value problem of transverse electromagnetic waves in time domain

Abstract

This paper proposes a partition of unity enrichment scheme for the solution of the electromagnetic wave equation in the time domain. A discretization scheme in time is implemented to render implicit solutions of systems of equations possible. The scheme allows for calculation of the field values at different time steps in an iterative fashion. The spatial grid is partitioned into a finite number of elements with intrinsic shape functions to form the bases of solution. Furthermore, each finite element degree of freedom is expanded into a sum of a slowly varying term and a combination of highly oscillatory functions. The combination consists of plane waves propagating in multiple directions, with a fixed frequency. This significantly reduces the number of degrees of freedom required to discretize the unknown field, without compromising on the accuracy or allowed tolerance in the errors, as compared to that of other enriched FEM approaches. Also, this considerably reduces the computational costs in terms of memory and processing time. Parametric studies, presented herein, confirm the robustness and efficiency of the proposed method and the advantages compared to another enrichment method.