Coupling the cell method with the boundary element method in static and quasi–static electromagnetic problems

A unified discretization framework, based on the concept of augmented dual grids, is proposed for devising hybrid formulations which combine the Cell Method and the Boundary Element Method for static and quasi-static electromagnetic field problems. It is shown that hybrid approaches, already proposed in literature, can be rigorously formulated within this framework. As a main outcome, a novel direct hybrid approach amenable to iterative solution is derived. Both direct and indirect hybrid approaches, applied to an axisymmetric model, are compared with a reference third-order 2D FEM solution. The effectiveness of the indirect approach, equivalent to the direct approach, is finally tested on a fully 3D benchmark with more complex topology.