Bembel: The Boundary Element Based Engineering Library

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Sebastian Schöps
• Subject Area: Communication Technology and Networks, High-Frequency Technology and Photonic Systems, Signal Processing and Machine Learning for Information Technology ; Mathematics ; Software Engineering and Programming Languages
• Term: from 2021 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 443179833

• Final Report Year: 2024

Final Report Abstract

The Bembel research project addresses the challenge of balancing the advancement of research with the development of maintainable code. Often, developers implement their research in their own branches, which diverge significantly from the main codebase, leading to inconsistencies and integration difficulties. Without clear rules and guidelines, the codebase can become disorganized and difficult to manage, hindering further development. The project goals were achieved through two initiatives. First, the maintainability of Bembel was improved by implementing software engineering principles. Comprehensive software testing was incorporated for quality assurance, workflows were automated through continuous integration, and refactoring improved code quality. Coding principles were discussed in developer workshops, agreed upon and written down in the documentation. On the other hand, Bembel’s functional capabilities were extended to make it more attractive for users. This included the integration of a Computer Aided Design (CAD) software interface and the introduction of a circuit-oriented Partial Element Equivalent Circuit (PEEC) method. With these improvements, new classes of problems can now be solved with Bembel. To demonstrate the applicability of Bembel, the software was used to solve two new challenging practical problems.

Publications

• A Spline-Based Partial Element Equivalent Circuit Method for Electrostatics. IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, 30(2), 594-601.
  Torchio, Riccardo; Nolte, Maximilian; Schöps, Sebastian & Ruehli, Albert E.
  
• A Low-Frequency-Stable Higher-Order Spline-Based Integral Equation Method. Preprint. Cornell University
  M. Nolte, R. Torchio, S. Schops, J. Dolz, F. Wolf & A. E. Ruehli
  
• Bembel: v1.1.
  Dolz, W. Huang, M. Multerer, M. Nolte, R. Von Rickenbach, S. Schops & F. Wolf