Proceedings CEEM’2015/HangZhou
A Hybrid Implicit–Explicit FDTD Method with an
Intermediate Field
Qi Zhang, Shi Qiu* and Bihua Zhou
National Key Laboratory on Electromagnetic Environmental Effects and Electro-optical Engineering
PLA University of Science and Technology
Nanjing, China
zhq52121@163.com, zeustone@yeah.net, s-zbh@163.com
Abstract- For analyzing wave propagation problems involving
fine geometries, a novel hybrid implicit-explicit finite-difference
time-domain (HIE-FDTD) scheme is presented. Both the stability
condition and numerical dispersion are theoretically analyzed.
Numerical simulation indicates that the computational cost of
this method to produce results with nearly identical accuracy to
the existing HIE-FDTD method has been considerably saved.
Keywords—Intermediate field; implicit difference; explicit
difference; numerical performance
I. INTRODUCTION
As an explicit time-marching technique, the time-step size
in the Yee's finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method has
to be small enough to satisfy the Courant Friedrich Levy (CFL)
limit [1], which means that the FDTD method is inefficient for
analyzing the electromagnetic scatter with fine scale
geometries. To alleviate this problem, an alternating direction
implicit FDTD (ADI-FDTD) method was presented to
eliminate the CFL restraints [2]-[3]. However, the accuracy of
the ADI-FDTD algorithm is limited by the numerical
dispersion [4] and the truncation error [5]-[6]. Actually, some
electromagnetic structures such as patch antennas only have
fine geometries in one or two directions. Based on this, a
hybrid implicit-explicit FDTD (HIE-FDTD) method [7]-[8]
with good calculation accuracy has been introduced recently,
in which method the limitation of the time-step size is only
determined by the explicit discretization [9].
In this paper, a new HIE-FDTD scheme is presented. The
time-step size in this method is not depended on the fine space
discretization. By maintaining the magnetic field at n+1/2 time
step (H
z
n+1/2
) which can be solved through a tri-diagonal
system, every field component could be explicitly advanced
by using the simple iterative equations. Particularly, the
advancement of magnetic field H
z
n+1
is hardly time-consuming
due to the fact that it can be updated by 2H
z
n+1/2
minus H
z
n
.
The resulting algorithm is therefore found to be especially
suitable for the simulation of wave propagation problems
involving fine structures.
II. FORMULATIONS OF THE PRESENTED SCHEME
Suppose that the electromagnetic wave propagates in an
isotropic lossless medium, Maxwell’s equations for the 2-D
TE wave are given in matrix form as follows:
(1)
Where [ψ]=[E
x
, E
y
, H
z
]
T
1
00
1
00
11
0
y
R
x
yx
ε and μ are the permittivity and permeability, respectively.
In this study, the electromagnetic field components are put
on the cells as those adopted in the Yee's FDTD algorithm.
Without loss of generality, the fine cells are employed in the
y-direction. The space derivative operator [R] is then split into
[R
1
]+[R
2
].
Where,
1
1
00
0 0 0
11
0
y
R
yx
2
0 0 0
1
00
0 0 0
R
x
The derivation of the given HIE-FDTD method is also
based on the time-split technique like the Crank-Nicolson
scheme [10]. The iteration equations at n→(n+1/2)th and
(n+1/2)th→(n+1)th time step are separately formulated as (2)
and (3).
1 2 1 2
0
12
0
1 2 1 2 1 2
00
n n n
x x z
n n n
y y z
n n n n
z z x y
E E a H
y
E E a H
x
H H b E b E
yx
(2)