Modeling Junctions in Sharp Edge Conducting Structures With Higher Order Method of Moments

Scattering targets are often made by complex structures constituted by thin metallic plates as wings, fins, winglets. When thin plates are connected together, they define surface junctions with the possible presence of sharp edges. In this paper we describe a complete procedure to handle junctions in presence of sharp edges in surface integral equation methods by defining the required basis functions and unknowns. This approach is based on the use of divergence-conforming higher order interpolatory vector basis functions, singular vector basis functions and on Kirchhoff's current law. The paper presents several numerical test cases that show the instability of solutions using classical methods and the full convergence of the proposed numerical scheme.