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mathematical technique > equation solving > finite-difference time-domain method

Preferred term

finite-difference time-domain method  

Definition

  • Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) or Yee's method (named after the Chinese American applied mathematician Kane S. Yee, born 1934) is a numerical analysis technique used for modeling computational electrodynamics (finding approximate solutions to the associated system of differential equations). Since it is a time-domain method, FDTD solutions can cover a wide frequency range with a single simulation run, and treat nonlinear material properties in a natural way. The FDTD method belongs in the general class of grid-based differential numerical modeling methods (finite difference methods). The time-dependent Maxwell's equations (in partial differential form) are discretized using central-difference approximations to the space and time partial derivatives. The resulting finite-difference equations are solved in either software or hardware in a leapfrog manner: the electric field vector components in a volume of space are solved at a given instant in time; then the magnetic field vector components in the same spatial volume are solved at the next instant in time; and the process is repeated over and over again until the desired transient or steady-state electromagnetic field behavior is fully evolved. (Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite-difference_time-domain_method)

Broader concept

Entry terms

  • FDTD method
  • Yee's method

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URI

http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/MDL-LZGR4307-4

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