3/12/2018 Hollow Rectangular Waveguide

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Hollow Rectangular Waveguide

Waveguides – Rectangular Waveguide

Figure1: E-field phase animation inside a rectangular w aveguide at 10 GHz.

The Physics

A hollow waveguide is a transmission line that looks like an empty

metallic pipe. It supports the propagation of transverse electric (TE) and
transverse magnetic (TM) modes, but not transverse electromagnetic
(TEM) modes. There is an infinite number of modes that can propagate
as long as the operating frequency is above the cutoff frequency of the
mode. The notation TEmn and TMmn are commonly used to denote the
type of wave and its mode, where m and n are the mode number in the
horizontal and vertical directions respectively. The mode with the lowest
cutoff frequency is called the fundamental mode or dominant mode. For
a hollow rectangular waveguide the dominant mode is TE10 and its E, H
and J fields are shown in Fig. 2.

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Figure 2: Fields pattern of the fundamental mode, TE10 . The green lines represent the E-field, the purple
lines the H-field and orange lines the J-field.
The electromagnetic analysis of a rectangular waveguide is well known,
and can be easily found in the literature, like [1]. Here we list only final
results that can be used to verify the simulation results.
c
fc = 2π k c (Eq. 1)
mn mn

mπ 2 nπ 2
kc
mn
= √( ) ( ) a + b (Eq. 2)

√k
2 2
βmn = − kc (Eq. 3)
mn
fc : cutoff frequency of the mode mn
mn

βmn : propagation constant corresponding to the mode mn

αmn : attenuation constant corresponding to the mode mn

k : free-space wavenumber
kc : wavenumber corresponding to the mode mn
mn

a and b : width and height of the waveguide respectively (see Fig. 3)

The Model

A section of a rectangular waveguide is modeled in CST STUDIO

SUITE® and the first 3 modes are calculated and their field distributions
analyzed. The dimensions used are the standard for WR-90 waveguide.

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Because the background is set to perfectly electrical conductor (PEC)

material, we only need to model the vacuum inside the waveguide, with a
waveguide port at each end. The boundary conditions are “electric” in all
directions, and the model is simulated using the time domain solver. In
this model the first 3 modes are calculated, and E- and H-field monitors
are set-up at 10, 13.5 and 15 GHz.
Parameter Value Description
a 22.86 mm Big edge dimension
b 10.16 mm Small edge dimension
l 40 mm Length of the waveguide

Figure 3: Section of a rectangular w aveguide (WR-90) modeled in CST STUDIO SUITE, w here α=22.86
mm, b =10.16 mm and l=40 mm.

Model Construction

Watch Video

Download Model File (Student Edition)

Download Model File

Discussion of Results

In Fig. 4 we show the dialog window of the Port Mode Information at 10

GHz. This can be found by right-clicking on the port in the dialog tree,
and selecting “Object Information”.

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Figure 4: Waveguide port mode information summarizing results for the first 3 modes of a WR90 at 10
GHz

In Table 2 we compare the results shown in Fig. 4 and compare with the
analytical results given by the Eq. 1 – 3.
f c [GH z] βm n [1/m] αm n [1/m]
mn

Mode simulated analytical simulated analytical simulated analytical

TE10 6.54 6.56 158.46 158.05 - -
TE20 13.02 13.12 - - 174.71 177.99
TE01 14.63 14.76 - - 223.81 227.48
Table 2: Comparison betw een simulation and analytical results at 10 GHz
Note that for the higher modes, there is no real beta at 10 GHz. That is
because those modes are below the cutoff frequency, and the
propagation constant becomes entirely imaginary (alpha). As Eq. 2
demonstrates, this indicates that k c > k . As these modes do not
mn
propagate, CST STUDIO SUITE also calculates the distance of -40 dB
of attenuation.
In the 2D/3D Results, we can see the field patterns for each mode. Fig. 5
shows the E-, H- and J-field patterns for each mode at 15 GHz. Fig 6
shows the field pattern for the TE01 mode at 10 GHz, below its cutoff
frequency. As expected from the port mode calculation (Fig. 4), the
mode does not propagate, and is attenuated below the -40 dB level
around 20 mm into the waveguide.

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Figure 5: E-, H- and J-field patterns for the first 3 modes at 15 GHz.

Additional Tasks

Model the WR-90 with a metallic wall made of copper (assume

that the wall is infinitely thin, and use the “Copper (annealed)” from
the CST material library) and estimate the waveguide attenuation
at 10 GHz for the fundamental mode. Compare your results with
the analytical results. You can also try comparing different mesh
settings (for example, 10, 30 and 50 lines per wavelength) and
different solvers. Which would you expect to give the closest fit to
the analytical results?
Waveguides are sometimes “loaded” with dielectric in order to
reduce their cutoff frequency, effectively reducing the size of
waveguide required for a given mode to propagate. Replace the
vacuum material with a dielectric, and perform a parameter
sweep for the permittivity of this material. What permittivity would
be required to allow the TE01 mode to propagate at 10 GHz?

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Figure 6: E-field pattern for the TE01 mode below cutoff, plotted w ith a dB scale and a low er limit of -40
dB.

References

[1] D.M. Pozar, Microwave Engineering, 4th Edition, John Wiley &
Sons, pp. 110-119

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