Abstract: Based on E-H TDFEM method derived directly from Maxwell's curl equations, Crank-Nicolson difference scheme is implemented for time-partial differential equation to obtain an unconditionally stable algorithm. Curvilinear tetrahedral elements are applied to discretize computational domain and electric and magnetic fields are expanded with same hierarchical vector basis functions. A sphere cavity and a cylindrical cavity partially filled with dielectric rod are simulated. It shows that curvilinear tetrahedral elements can reach higher accuracy with same mesh numbers, compared with tetrahedral elements. Better results can be obtained by curvilinear tetrahedral elements combined with 1.0 order hierarchical basis functions with fewer unknowns than that combined with 0.5 order hierarchical basis functions.

Key words: E-H time-domain finite-element method, Crank-Nicolson scheme, hierarchical vector basis functions, curvilinear tetrahedral elements