Efficient integral equation method for the solution of 3-D magnetostatic problems

Nonlinear three-dimensional (3-D) magnetostatic field problems are solved using integral equation methods (IEM). Only the nonlinear material itself has to be discretized. This results in a system of nonlinear equations with a relative small number of unknowns. To keep computational costs low the fully dense system matrix is compressed with the fast multipole method. The accuracy of the applied indirect IEM formulation is improved significantly by the use of a difference field concept and a special treatment of singularities at edges. An improved fixed point solver is used to ensure convergence of the nonlinear problem.