2.13.3                Contours

QuickWave allows for calculation of integral quantities, such as a line integral of the electric field along a pre-defined integration path. If the field is potential, then this integral has the physical meaning of voltage. Knowing the voltage between two metal objects allows predicting the hazards of arcing and electric breakdown.

The path of integration is called contour and is defined by the user with UDO objects from the contours library. QuickWave delivers two kinds of contours: contourE and contourH, which are E-field and H-field integration contours respectively. During the simulation, the electric and/or magnetic fields (depending on which contours have been defined) are integrated along the path, and those integrals will be Fourier-transformed by FD-Probing post-processing, analogously as voltages at point sources and probes.

A detailed discussion concerning the application of contours, e.g. how they can be used for retrieving the characteristic impedance of TEM lines, is given for User Guide 3D: Field integration along a user-defined line.