CRPC-TR98757						May 1998

Title: Three Dimensional Finite Element Modeling of the Earth'Ős
Magnetosphere

Authors: Petr Kloucek and Frank R. Toffoletto

Submitted August 1998; Available as Rice CAAM TR 98-11

Abstract:
We demonstrate the feasibility of using a nonconforming finite element
method on an unstructured grid in solving a magnetospheric physics
problem. We use this approach to construct a global discrete model of the
magnetic field of the magnetosphere that includes the effects of shielding
currents at the outher boundary (the magnetopause). As in the approach of
[17] the internal magnetospheric field model is that of Hilmer and Voigt
[3] while the magnetopause shape is based on an empirically-determined
approximation [12]. The result is a magnetic field model whose field lines
are completely confined within the magnetosphere. The numerical results
indicate that the nonconforming discrete model is robust and efficient.

Keywords: Magnetopause, magnetosphere, Chapman-Ferraro Currents,
Nonconforming finite elements, Laplace's equation, Neumann boundary value
problem

1991 Mathematical Subject Classification: 65M60, 65N50, 65J10, 85A20,
85-08

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Petr Kloucek
kloucek@caam.rice.edu
Department of Computational and Applied Mathematics
Rice University

Frank R. Toffoletto
toffo@rice.edu
Department of Space Physics and Astronomy
Rice University