Boundary Conditions

Boundary conditions define the behavior of the electric or magnetic field at object interfaces or edges of the problem region. They are always necessary in order to insure the uniqueness of the electromagnetic field calculation. They can also be used to do the following:

• Simulate structures that are magnetically isolated, electrically insulated, or electrically isolated.
• Set the electric or magnetic potential at a surface to a constant value or a function of position, in order to define the behavior of the electric or magnetic field on that surface
• Simulate the field patterns that would exist in a structure while modeling only part of it. To do this, you can define planes of symmetry where electric or magnetic fields are either tangential to or normal to the surface. Additionally, you can define planes of symmetry where the field on one surface matches the magnitude and direction (or opposite direction) of the field on another surface.
• Simulate the field patterns produced by thin resistive layers on conductors (DC conduction solver) or eddy currents with very tiny skin depths in conductors (eddy current solver), without having to explicitly draw, assign materials to, or solve for fields inside the objects in question.

Available boundary types in Maxwell 2D are listed in the following table. Select from the table to see more information about a specific boundary type or for information on how to apply it in a specific problem type.