Application of the multifrontal method to the vector FEM for analysis of microwave filters.

The multifrontal method is applied for solving a large system of linear equations resulting from the use of the edge-based finite-element method (FEM). The finite-element method combined with the perfectly matched layers (PMLs) is given for the simulation of microwave filters, and the algorithm of the multifrontal method is described in detail. The reflection loss and insertion loss of several filters are analyzed as examples, and the obtained results are compared with those obtained from the literature. In order to demonstrate the efficiency of the multifrontal method, the computational time is compared with that of both the symmetric successive overrelaxation (SSOR) preconditioned conjugate-gradient (PCG) and conjugate-gradient methods (CG) for a thick-iris waveguide bandpass filer. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 31: 465–470, 2001. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]