The INTEGRATED Advantage
BEM, FEM or Hybrid; Choose the Right Tool for Your Application
Since 1984, INTEGRATED has been the industry leader in
Boundary Element Method (BEM) CAE software. BEM not only
provides the most accurate numerical field solutions, but also is the method of choice for problems involving
large open regions.
In contrast, field solvers using the Finite Element Method (FEM)
often require artificial "smoothing" algorithms to average out numerical errors.
In addition, artificial boundaries must be used to handle open region problems,
and even then, the large meshes required may lead to excessively long solution
times.
However, the relative simplicity of implementation of FEM solvers leads to advantages when complex nonlinear or
transient analysis is required. FEM very often provides sufficient accuracy for engineering purposes, and many
problems are by their nature inherently closed region. Recognizing this, INTEGRATED incorporated FEM solvers to
provide users the choice of both methods. A significant side benefit of having both BEM and FEM solvers is the ability
to check the validity of solutions using two completely different analysis methods.
The most challenging analysis problems occur when both nonlinearities and open regions are present. Here again
INTEGRATED takes the lead providing HYBRID field solutions using BEM and FEM simultaneously to exploit the
strengths of both methods.
- Link to CAD packages for true representation of complex geometric shapes
- Powerful parametric solvers allow designers to automatically vary and experiment with geometry, materials
and sources – reducing the tedious, repetitive task of fine –tuning multiple design parameters
- Easy-to-learn programs allow designers to focus on product development, not software training
The LORENTZ module for charged particle calculations is available with any INTEGRATED field solvers or
combination thereof. Advantages of LORENTZ include:
Best Field Solver
No single method is the fastest or most accurate for every problem. However, accurate field results are a
critical start to getting correct trajectory calculations. INTEGRATED field solvers have been proven in a diverse
range of applications for over 20 years. BEM,
FEM, and a HYBRID solvers are available to give the user a high
level of choice. This also provides the ability to independently verify the solution within the same program,
with much less effort than using two separate programs for verification. The BEM method is especially
noted for producing more accurate field results than FEM in most cases.
Mixed Fields
In many applications it is necessary to use more than one field type, for example, a magnetic field from coils
plus electric fields from electrodes, or high frequency fields in a waveguide plus a DC bias field. LORENTZ can
have more than one field solver built in to handle these cases. Furthermore, LORENTZ is able to import fields
(see below).
Importing Fields
Users often want to specify a field rather than model it. Reasons include:
1. making use of measured fields from the actual equipment
2. theoretical studies of the effect of field shape to determine whether it is worth designing equipment to achieve
that field shape
3. making use of pre-existing results from software purchased prior to LORENTZ
The interface for importing includes a simple text file format to interpolate from the input data, and
(for more advanced users) a DLL link.
Secondary Emission
LORENTZ provides two options for Secondary Emission calculations.
Probabilities are determined from the energy of peak gain, the gain at this energy, and the mean energy of
the secondary electrons.
A variety of inputs specify the individual probablities for reflection, rediffused electrons, and "true
secondaries".
Space Charge and Surface Charge
All variants of LORENTZ with a static electric solver module included are able to model space charge with
a variety of standard emission regimes. In 2D programs it is also possible to model the charging of dielectric
surfaces. This includes the charge difference between the incident beam and any secondary electrons emitted.
Mobility, Viscosity, Wind Tunnels, and Residual Gas
LORENTZ is able to model any particle trajectory with electric mobility, and macroparticles with either mobility
or viscosity. In both cases a wind speed can be applied to "Wind Tunnel" regions of the model. Advanced users
with external data for a wind tunnel velocity distribution can import this via a DLL that they write. Residual
gases provide random changes to particle momentum based statistically on the mass, radius, temperature and
pressure of the gas molecules.
- Solution to an Electromagnetic(EM) model can be obtained in SINGULA based on the Method of Moments(MoM)
or Finite Element Method, or the hybrid method with MoM and Physical Optics (PO).
-
SINGULA can
solve electrically-large-size problems by the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) technique or the hybrid method with MoM and PO.
-
SINGULA’s FFT
technique can deal with the model with the high lossy materials, which Multi-level Fast Multi-pole Method could not deal with.
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SINGULA can
solve the full-matrix problem with over half a million unknowns on a PC computer.
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Simultaneous use of lossless and lossy electrical materials in a model is permitted
in SINGULA , whereas
restrictions in some form exist in competing programs.
-
Waveguide sources can be used in the open or in the closed region problems.
-
Radiation patterns of antennas fed by waveguides surrounded by dielectric radomes can accurately be obtained
in SINGULA.
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Solution convergence with increased mesh density is easily accomplished in SINGULA . This increases the
confidence on the arrived solution.
-
SINGULA can be
coupled with LORENTZ or
CELSIUS for particle trajectory calculation or thermal analysis.
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The team of Engineers that are responsible for the development of SINGULA offer design and technical
support to the users of SINGULA throughout.