Introduction to Harmonic Balance Finite Element Method (HBFEM)

Harmonics in power systems means the existence of signals, superimposed on the fundamental signal, whose frequencies are integer numbers of the fundamental frequency. Electricity supply authorities normally abrogate responsibility on harmonic matters by introducing standards or recommendations for the limitation of voltage harmonic levels at the points of common coupling between consumers. The objective of computational electromagnetics (CEM) is to create a representation of real-life problems that can be examined and analyzed by computer resources, as an alternative to building a system, exciting it, and measuring the generated fields. Nonlinear phenomena in EM fields are caused by nonlinear materials used in electric machines. The harmonic balance finite element method (HBFEM) method uses a linear combination of sinusoids to build the solution, and represents waveforms using the sinusoid - coefficients combined with the finite element method. The principle of a new approach of HBFEM is to drive a basic formulation of the HBFEM.