Surface integral equations for electromagnetic testing: the low-frequency and high-contrast case

Abstract—This study concerns boundary element methods applied to electromagnetic testing, for a wide range of frequencies and conductivities. The eddy currents approximation cannot handle all configurations, while the common Maxwell formulation suffers from numerical instabilities at low frequency or in presence of highly contrasted media. We draw on studies that overcome these problems for dielectric configurations to treat conductive bodies, and show how to link them to eddy current formulations under suitable assumptions. This is intended as a first step towards a generic formulation that can be modified in each sub-domain according to the corresponding medium. Index Terms—Eddy currents, low frequency, Maxwell equa-tions, surface integral equations. I