A Finite Element Based PML Method for Time-domain Electromagnetic Wave Propagation Analysis

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents a new formulation for transient simulations of microwave propagation in heterogeneous unbounded domains. In particular, perfectly-matched-layers(PMLs) are introduced to allow for wave absorption at artificial boundaries used to truncate the infinite extent of the physical domains. The development of the electromagnetic PML targets the application to engineering mechanics problems such as structural health monitoring and inverse medium problems. To formulate the PML for plane electromagnetic waves, a complex coordinate transformation is introduced to Maxwell’s equations in the frequency-domain. Then the PML-endowed partial differential equations(PDEs) for transient electromagnetic waves are recovered by the application of the inverse Fourier transform to the frequency-domain equations. A mixed finite element method is employed to solve the time-domain PDEs for electric and magnetic fields in the PML-truncated domain. Numerical results are presented for plane microwaves propagating through concrete structures, and the accuracy of solutions is investigated by a series of error analyses.