A 2D finite element wave equation solver based on triangular base elements

Abstract

A finite element method based on the subdivision of the physical domain in triangular sub‐domains in which simple local ’areale’ coordinates are adopted is explored. The advantage of the method is that it straightforwardly allows grid refinement in regions where higher precision is required. The plasma model was kept simple for this ’proof‐of‐principle’ exercise. Rather than accounting for the actual differential or integro‐differential dielectric tensor, its locally uniform plasma equivalent was adopted for 3 possible choices: the cold plasma response, the full hot Stix/Swanson plasma tensor retaining all orders in finite Larmor radius (FLR) and the more common hot tensor, truncated at terms of second order in the Larmor radius.