Three-dimensional boundary element analysis of electromagnetic wave scattering by penetrable bodies

A frequency domain boundary element methodology of solving three dimensional electromagnetic wave scattering problems by dielectric particles is reported. The method utilizes a computationally attractive surface integral equation containing only weakly and strongly singular integrals in the contrast to most formulations involving not only strongly singular but hypersingular integrals as well. The main advantage of this integral equation is the fact that its strongly singular part is similar to the one appearing in the corresponding integral equation of dynamic elasticity. Thus, well known advanced integration techniques used successfully in elastic scattering problems can be directly applied to the present analysis. Both continuous and discontinuous quadratic elements are employed in order to accurately treat dielectric scatterers with smooth and piecewise smooth boundaries. Numerical examples dealing with three dimensional electromagnetic wave scattering problems demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed boundary element formulation.