Kristof Cools - BET3D
Introduction
March-on-in-Time: Boundary Element Time-Domain Domain Decomposition Methods
PI: Prof Kristof Cools – UGent
60 months
Project description
Modelling almost entirely replaced prototyping as a design methodology. In electromagnetics and optics, it has played a central role in the rapid development of communication and imaging, with applications in medicine, security, and energy. New technological requirements have always been met by breakthroughs in modelling.
Advances in TeraHertz technology have driven researchers to consider systems that are highly non-linear and strongly radiating. Modelling these systems requires methods that are based on time-stepping, and that can accurately describe unbounded regions. These requirements can only be met by time-domain boundary element methods (TD-BEMs). The use of other methods such as the finite element method, the method of moments, or the finite difference time-domain method – if at all applicable – results in unacceptable computational costs, and large errors in dispersion and radiation characteristics.
Unfortunately, TD-BEMs are not nearly as mature as other methods. They lack the ability to model all but the simplest systems. Attempts to use TD-BEMs to model realistic devices containing multiple materials, ports, coatings, or two-dimensional materials like graphene lead to instabilities, rendering the result of simulations completely useless. This state of affairs has persisted for over 50 years but has become an urgent problem now.
BET3D will aggressively accelerate the development of the time-domain boundary element method into a method that can model highly non-linear, strongly radiating systems and that unlocks the capability to model emerging technologies in THz communications and imaging, and beyond.
As part of the benchmarking and validation for this project, we will model the generation of THz radiation by an array of graphene resonant tunnelling diode oscillators, including feeds, ports, packaging, and antenna structure. The results of BET3D will enable modelling of non-linear, radiating systems, also in acoustics, elastodynamics, and fluid dynamics.
Objectives
BET3D will aggressively accelerate the development of the time-domain boundary element method into a stable method that can model highly non-linear, strongly radiating systems and that unlocks the capability to model emerging technologies in TeraHertz communications and imaging, and beyond.
- Design a Boundary Element Time-Domain Domain-Decomposition Method
- Stabilize the BET3D method in the late-time and multi-scale regimes
- Improve accuracy of the BET3D method by designing novel approximation and integration methods
- Enable coupling to circuits (0D), transmission lines (1D), thin sheets (2D) and inhomogeneous materials (3D)
- Design a flexible and robust parallel algorithm for the distributed execution of BET3D and validate on the modelling of an array of GRTD oscillators
Role of Ghent University
This ERC-CoG project will be conducted by the team of Prof Kristof Cools at Ghent University. The work fits in longstanding collaboration between the Computational Electromagnetics group of Prof Cools and experts at the University of Loughborough, Delft University of Technology, the Politechnic University of Turin, and others.
Website
Contact
Prof Kristof Cools
Department of Information Technology
e-mail