Fast and accurate calculation of physically complete EMI response by a heterogeneous metallic object

In this paper, the coupling and close-proximity effects arising between highly conducting and permeable metallic objects are exposed and analyzed, for the electromagnetic induction (EMI) frequency range (from tens of hertz up to several hundreds of kilohertz). To understand the physics of the interaction phenomena, a numerical technique is applied, consisting of the full method of auxiliary sources (MAS) at low frequencies and a combination of the MAS with thin-skin approximation (TSA) at high frequencies. Both numerical MAS-MAS/TSA and experimental studies have shown that the scattered field from a heterogeneous target generated as a simple superposition of independent responses from each part can be very different from the field determined from whole object with full internal interaction. A new numerical technique for fast and accurate representation of EMI responses for heterogeneous objects is pursued here, applicable to any three-dimensional heterogeneous object placed in an arbitrary time-varying EMI field. First, any primary magnetic field input is decomposed into the spheroidal modes over a fictitious surface surrounding the object. Then, for each input spheroidal mode, the full EMI problem including all interaction is solved using the MAS-MAS/TSA technique, and each modal response is reproduced using a compact reduced set of sources (RSS). Finally, the total response from the given target for any other excitation can be synthesized simply by calculating that primary field's constituent spheroidal modes and combining their stored responses. Several numerical examples are designed to show how an object's electromagnetic parameters, geometry, distance between objects, antenna positions, and orientations relative to the object affect the coupling. Comparisons between numerical and measured data for a machined composite object and for an actual unexploded ordnance demonstrate the superior accuracy and applicability of the MAS-MAS/TSA RSS model over simple dipole approximations, for certain classes of heterogeneous objects.