Application of the Characteristic Basis Function Method Utilizing a Class of Basis and Testing Functions Defined on NURBS Patches

Abstract

A novel implementation of the characteristic basis function method (CBFM) is given, in which the high-level basis functions, called characteristic basis functions (CBFs), are represented in terms of curved rooftops generated from nonuniform rational B-splines (NURBS) in the parametric (u,v) domain. The associated macro-testing functions are defined by using curved razor-blade functions corresponding to each rooftop. The underlying objective of the CBFM is the reduction of the number of unknowns that arise from the discretization process when applying the conventional method of moments (MoM). The result is, therefore, an approach which can handle many complex cases via direct solvers, without suffering from convergence problems as many of the iterative techniques are known to do when dealing with ill-conditioned matrices. As a result of the combination of the CBFM with the special class of low-level basis and testing functions directly located over NURBS surfaces, complex and realistic geometries can be efficiently analyzed to yield accurate results while reducing the CPU time as well as required memory resources.