Abstract—Spectral element method (SEM), which is known
of its high accuracy, has been recently applied in solving
electromagnetic problems governed by Maxwell’s equations.
This paper investigates the accuracy of SEM in twodimensional,
frequency-domain electromagnetic scattering
problems where Helmholtz equation acts as the governing
partial differential equation (PDE). As experience in meshing a
problem in finite element method is important to obtain
accurate results, the choice of elements in SEM, on the other
hand, is important too. The aspect ratio in this paper is taken
into account while studying the accuracy in a single element by
utilizing the Green’s function. In addition, the scalar field
scattered by a circular cylinder placed in front of an incident
plane wave is solved after truncating the domain by perfectly
matched layer. Numerical results show that one should
carefully discretize the problem and keeping the aspect ratio
close to unity as much as possible to guarantee accurate results.
Index Terms—Aspect ratio, electromagnetic scattering, PML
SEM.
I. Mahariq is with Middle East Technical University, Turkey (e-mail:
ibmahariq@gmail.com).
H. I. Tarman is with the Dept. of Engineering Sciences in Middle East
Technical University, Ankara, Turkey (e-mail: tarman@metu.edu.tr).
M. Kuzuoğlu is with the Dept. of Electrical and Electronics Eng. in
Middle East Technical University (e-mail: kuzuoglu@metu.edu.tr).
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Cite:I. Mahariq, H. I. Tarman, and M. Kuzuoğlu, "On the Accuracy of Spectral Element Method in Electromagnetic Scattering Problems," International Journal of Computer Theory and Engineering vol. 6, no. 6, pp. 495-499, 2014.