Simulation of electrical machines - A FEM-BEM coupling scheme

Abstract

Electrical machines commonly consist of moving and stationary parts. The field simulation of such devices can be very demanding if the underlying numerical scheme is solely based on a domain discretization, such as in case of the Finite Element Method (FEM). Here, a coupling scheme based on FEM together with Boundary Element Methods (BEM) is presented that neither hinges on re-meshing techniques nor deals with a special treatment of sliding interfaces. While the numerics are certainly more involved the reward is obvious: The modeling costs decrease and the application engineer is provided with an easy-to-use, versatile, and accurate simulation tool.