We consider the problem of domain approximation in finite element methods for Maxwell equations on curved domains, i.e., when affine or polynomial meshes fail to exactly cover the domain of interest. In such cases, one is forced to approximate the domain by a sequence of polyhedral domains arising from inexact meshes. We deduce conditions on the quality of these approximations that ensure rates of error convergence between discrete solutions -- in the approximate domains -- to the continuous one in the original domain.
We study the effects of numerical quadrature rules on error convergence rates when solving Maxwell-type variational problems via the curl-conforming or edge finite element method. A complete {\em a priori} error analysis for the case of bounded polygonal and curved domains with non-homogeneous coefficients is provided. We detail sufficient conditions with respect to mesh refinement and precision for the quadrature rules so as to guarantee convergence rates following that of exact numerical integration. On curved domains, we isolate the error contribution to numerical quadrature rules.
A new finite difference method on irregular, locally perturbed rectangular grids has been developed for solving electromagnetic waves around curved perfect electric conductors (PEC). This method incorporates the back and forth error compensation and correction method (BFECC) and level set method to achieve convenience and higher order of accuracy at complicated PEC boundaries. A PDE-based local second order ghost cell extension technique is developed based on the level set framework in order to compute the boundary value to first order accuracy (cumulatively), and then BFECC is applied to furt…
Time-dependent Maxwell's equations govern electromagnetics. Under certain conditions, we can rewrite these equations into a partial differential equation of second order, which in this case is the vectorial wave equation. For the vectorial wave, we investigate the numerical application and the challenges in the implementation. For this purpose, we consider a space-time variational setting, i.e. time is just another spatial dimension. More specifically, we apply integration by parts in time as well as in space, leading to a space-time variational formulation with different trial and test spaces…
This paper proposes a charge-conserving, variational, spatio-temporal discretization for the drift-kinetic Vlasov-Maxwell system, utilizing finite-elements for the electromagnetic fields and the particle-in-cell approach for the Vlasov distribution. The proposed scheme is fully electromagnetic, dealing with fields instead of potentials, and includes the effects of polarization and magnetization in the Gauss and Ampère-Maxwell laws, a consequence of reducing the full particle dynamics to drift-center dynamics. There is, however, no need to invert the Gauss law: it is satisfied automatically at …
We develop a new finite difference scheme for the Maxwell-Stefan diffusion system. The scheme is conservative, energy stable and positivity-preserving. These nice properties stem from a variational structure and are proved by reformulating the finite difference scheme into an equivalent optimization problem. The solution to the scheme emerges as the minimizer of the optimization problem, and as a consequence energy stability and positivity-preserving properties are obtained.
We present two strategies for designing passivity preserving higher order discretization methods for Maxwell's equations in nonlinear Kerr-type media. Both approaches are based on variational approximation schemes in space and time. This allows to rigorously prove energy conservation or dissipation, and thus passivity, on the fully discrete level. For linear media, the proposed methods coincide with certain combinations of mixed finite element and implicit Runge-Kutta schemes. The order optimal convergence rates, which can thus be expected for linear problems, are also observed for nonlinear p…
This paper concerns the numerical resolution of a data completion problem for the time-harmonic Maxwell equations in the electric field. The aim is to recover the missing data on the inaccessible part of the boundary of a bounded domain from measured data on the accessible part. The non-iterative quasi-reversibility method is studied and different mixed variational formulations are proposed. Well-posedness, convergence and regularity results are proved. Discretization is performed by means of edge finite elements. Various two- and three-dimensional numerical simulations attest the efficiency o…
We propose a numerical method to solve the three-dimensional static Maxwell equations in a singular axisymmetric domain, generated by the rotation of a singular polygon around one of its sides. The mathematical tools and an in-depth study of the problem set in the meridian half-plane are exposed in \cite{AsCLS03}, \cite{CiLa11}. Here, we derive a variational formulation and the corresponding approximation method. Numerical experiments are proposed, and show that the approach is able to capture the singular part of the solution. This article can also be viewed as a generalization of the Singula…
In this work is provided a numerical study of a diffusion problem involving a second order term on the domain boundary (the Laplace-Beltrami operator) referred to as the \textit{Ventcel problem}.A variational formulation of the Ventcel problem is studied, leading to a finite element discretization.The focus is on the resort to high order curved meshes for the discretization of the physical domain.The computational errors are investigated both in terms of geometrical error and of finite element approximation error, respectively associated to the mesh degree $r\ge 1$ and to the finite element de…
