On the application of hinged finite elements to eddy current problems

A Finite Element method that uses a hinged weighting function is applied to 1-D and 2-D eddy current problems. A method of choosing the hinge parameters such that the resulting piecewise linear function approximates an exponential weighting function is developed. A special purpose quadrilateral element that incorporates the hinged weighting function is derived. The hinged elements are used to solve 1-D and 2-D eddy current test problems. Computed results that illustrate the advantages of the hinged F.E.M. are presented.