A Three-Dimensional Modified Finite Volume Technique for Maxwell's Equations

Abstract

A modified finite volume method for solving Maxwell's equations in the time-domain is presented. This method, which allows the use of general nonorthogonal mixed-polyhedral grids, is a direct generalisation of the canonical staggered-grid finite difference method. Employing mixed polyhedral cells, (hexahedral, tetrahedral, etc.) this method allows more accurate modeling of non-rectangular structures. The traditional “stair-stepped” boundary approximations associated with the orthogonal grid based finite difference methods ate avoided. Numerical results demonstrating the accuracy of this new method are presented.