Application of curvilinear higher order edge elements to scattering problems using the boundary element method

A boundary element method in terms of the field variables is applied to three-dimensional electromagnetic scattering problems. We propose higher order edge elements of quadrilateral shape for the field approximation on curved surfaces. The tangential components of the unknown field variables are interpolated by the edge element. The Galerkin method is implemented to obtain a set of linear equations. The applicability of the proposed edge element is investigated by the comparison of numerical results with analytical solutions