Coupled electromagnetic and mechanical modeling and detection of buried objects

A time domain finite element (FE) framework was used to investigate the coupled electromagnetic (EM) and mechanical behavior of buried target systems. The coupling of the EM and mechanical fields is through using the Lorentz Force as the body force in the mechanical Cauchy equation of motion. The coupling is sequential where the EM fields and Lorentz force are first solved for, then they are used as inputs for the Cauchy equations of motion. Predictions were obtained for different loading conditions and the Method of Morris sensitivity analysis was used to understand how different mechanical and EM variables affect the buried target system. These predictions indicate that target permeability and depth had the most significant and dominant effects on the behavior of the buried target system.