An hp-adaptive finite element method for scattering problems in computational electromagnetics

An hp-adaptive finite element (FE) approach is presented for a reliable, efficient and accurate solution of 3D electromagnetic scattering problems. The radiation condition in the far field is satisfied automatically by approximation with infinite elements (IE). Near optimal discretizations that can effectively resolve local rapid variations in the scattered field are sought adaptively by mesh refinements blended with graded polynomial enrichments. The p-enrichments need not be spatially isotropic. The discretization error can be controlled by a self-adaptive process, which is driven by implicit or explicit a posteriori error estimates. The error may be estimated in the energy norm or in a quantity of interest. A radar cross section (RCS) related linear functional is used in the latter case. Adaptively constructed solutions are compared to pure uniform p approximations. Numerical, highly accurate, and fairly converged solutions for a number of generic problems are given and compared to previously published results. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.