Automatic adaptive meshing for efficient electrostatic boundary element simulations

The boundary element method (BEM) is well suited for the electrostatic analysis of large, geometrically complex structures. When highly accurate solutions are required, the discretization (meshing) of the geometry becomes increasingly important. A scheme is required to construct optimal meshes, in the sense that maximum accuracy of the solution can be achieved with minimal computational effort. Automatic adaptive meshing allows to automatically generate a good mesh, by iteratively refining the elements that contribute strongly to the overall error. An error indicator for BEM simulations is presented and an adaptive meshing scheme, involving both p- and h-type refinement. The generated discretizations lead to significantly higher accuracy for a given simulation size.