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Error evaluation and its a posteriori prediction are important Notebook proposes an adaptive method to reduce the error of inte-
issues in all numerical simulations. Although we may have the gral-equation solutions for electrostatic simulations. It proposes a
wishful thinking that codes can be treated as a black box, the way to subdivide the elements for increasing the accuracy of the
reality is that erroneous results can be obtained due to geometrical solution.
or numerical modeling difficulties. Therefore, a posteriori error
predictions and algorithms for correcting these errors are quite I would like to mention that previous articles in this column
important. The issue of numerical error evaluation is customarily of the Magazine have addressed the error issue from a general
addressed in computational mechanics, and is a recognized topic point of view, and in the context of other numerical methods.
among the scientists in that field. Please refer to the October, 1994, April, 1996, and October, 1996,
issues of the Magazine.
In electromagnetics, considerations relating to numerical
error have only appeared sporadically, but will continue to become Finally, I want to thank the authors for their contribution. For
of greater concern as we rely more heavily on numerical simula- questions on the article, please contact Prof. B. M. Kolundiija
tions for designs. The article in this issue of the EM Programmers directly. His e-mail address is kol@kiklop.etf.bg.ac.yu.
citance with
on Exact Error Estimation
Kolundiija, Andrej M. Hofman,
i r and Antonije R. Djordjevi
~ a ~ ik: ~Petrovi,
1. Introduction structures) is not yet possible. So, we must begin with some sim-
pler task, which we can manage to solve. For this purpose, electro-
hat is the exact error bound of our result? Can we obtain statics is a good choice.
it with arbitrary (desired) accuracy? We often pose
these questions afier getting some new numerical result. Obvi- So, as the answer to the first question, we will first derive a
ously, it would be extremely useful to estimate the error of the new exact error estimation for the capacitance of two conducting
result exactly, thus eliminating the need for its further (expenmen- bodies. We will next incorporate this error criterion into an adap-
tal or numerical) validation. However, to the authors best knowl- tive method for the calculation of the characteristic impedance of a
edge, the exact estimation of an error for complicated electromag- transmission line. Finally, we will show some numerical results for
netic problems (e.g., antenna design, or scattering from complex a transmission line consisting of two square conductors.
80 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 40, No. 6, December 1998
2. Exact error estimation for the capacitance
Having in mind that Doi dSi = -pso,dS,, Equation (1) can be 3. Relative error for the characteristic impedance
written in the form
Application of this result to a uniform transmission line with
a homogeneous dielectric (e.g., the one sketched in Figure 4) is
straightforward. The characteristic impedance of a transmission
line is calculated from its capacitance per unit length, resulting in
In the above equation, psol and pso2denote exact charge distri- the following estimation:
butions on the two conductors. (Note that approximate potentials 1
V, and V2 are not constant on the conductor surfaces.) Zmin5 z, 5 Zmax, zo= cc;, ,
~ (7)
IEEE Xntennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 40, No. 6, December 1998 81
(9)
I L I
-1_ - 1 4 1
<--I-+--.
1
2 2t L 2 2t
our final note about the method concems finding the mini-
I
I
I
mum~and maximum values of a potential on the conductors sur- 0.85
I
pseuc(o-Pasca1algorithm.
a 1 . m
,
-1 0 1
//a
Figure 6. The potential distribution along the circumference of
one conductor, occurring after a.) each of the first three itera-
tion steps, and b.) at the end of the adaptive procedure.
5. Numerical results
/E4 Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 40, No. 6,December 1998 83
that the maximum relative error be less than &desired = 0.01. It is
well known that near the square-conductorcomers, the charge den-
sity tends to infinity. It is seen that, owing to our adaptive seg- -a- t = inf
-0- t = 25
mentation, charge distribution near metallic wedges is modeled -A- t E2.0
very accurately.
Our primary objective is, of course, to calculate the imped- With respect to the number of iterations performed by the
ance of the line within the desired precision, as defined by Equa- adaptive procedure, the advantage of using non-uniform bisection
tion (1l). Further, we want to accomplish the solution with good is apparent. It is seen that the smallest number of iterations is
efficiency. Efficiency here means two things: We want to obtain obtained by using a segmentation factor of t = 1.5. A further
the solution by using the smallest possible number of unknowns, decrease o f t leads to an increase in the number of iterations, as
and the smallest possible number of iterations. To get a look at the well (not shown in the figure). When compared with the uniform
error behavior as a function of the number of unknowns and itera- bisection ( t + c1) ), the number of iterations for optimal non-uni-
tions, we refer to Figures 7 and 8. Results are shown for four dif- form bisection is practically halved. In particular, let us consider
ferent segmentation factors: t + co , t = 2.5, t = 2 , and t = 1.5.
the case 6 ,, For this case, the number of unknowns
Conceming the number of unknowns, it is seen that to required for analysis is about N = 1000. Theoretically,the smallest
achieve the desired accuracy, about the same number of unknowns number of iterations, N,,,, = 8 , is obtained when all segments are
are needed, independent oft. Note also that by decreasing the pre- bisected after each iteration. In the case of t = 1.5, the number of
scribed maximum relative error ten times, the required number of iterations is relatively close to this theoretical minimum. The num-
unknowns to achieve the prescribed error increases about three ber of iterations can be further decreased only if the segments are
times. That is, the number of unknowns needed for the desired subdivided into more than two sub-segments.
accuracy can not be further decreased by using some other seg-
mentation technique, unless some more sophisticated basis func- 6. Conclusion
tions are employed.
This paper presented an adaptive method for a two-dimen-
sional electrostatic analysis of air-filled two-conductor lines. The
method is based on exact error estimates, and thus enables the
evaluation of capacitance within prescribed accuracy limits. For
the example of a transmission line consisting of square conductors
considered, the characteristic impedance was estimated to be
Z = 75ohms with a predefined relative error of less than
8,,, = The method can be generalized to two-dimensional
and three-dimensional electrostatic analysis of arbitrary systems of
conducting bodies in free space.
7. References
84 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 40, No. 6, December 1998