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Analysis of Rectangular Waveguides An Intuitive


Approach
ab

Pragnan Chakravorty
a

Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering, National Institute of Technology,


Durgapur, India
b

Clique for Applied Research in Electronic Technology, Bhilai, India


Published online: 19 Jan 2015.

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To cite this article: Pragnan Chakravorty (2014) Analysis of Rectangular Waveguides An Intuitive Approach, IETE Journal of
Education, 55:2, 76-80, DOI: 10.1080/09747338.2014.1002819
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Analysis of Rectangular Waveguides  An Intuitive


Approach
Pragnan Chakravorty1,2
1

Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, India, 2Clique for Applied Research
in Electronic Technology, Bhilai, India

ABSTRACT

Downloaded by [New York University] at 10:36 05 August 2015

Customarily, the field solutions of rectangular waveguides are achieved by solving Maxwells equation for
three-dimensional vector space. The field expressions obtained from the solutions of differential equations are
often too mathematical to develop any physical understanding of the subject. In this article, the field solutions
are obtained mostly through the analysis of underlying physics; this approach provides a firm conceptual
grasp over the subject and is best suited to accomplish pedagogical objectives along with being a supplementary text for undergraduate studies.
Keywords:
Electromagnetic analysis, Field solutions, Maxwells equations, Rectangular waveguide.

1.

INTRODUCTION

The rigorous mathematical nature of electromagnetic


analysis often makes it difficult to draw a physical
comprehension of the subject; the field analysis of
waveguides is one among several of those. Though the
traditional approach of analysing the electromagnetic
fields of rectangular waveguides is the simplest of its
kind [15]; it still fails to provide a physical insight for
the subject. The routine methodology of solving the
differential equations in three-dimensional (3D) space
takes away most of the efforts and attention of the
readers, leaving limited scope to build a physical concept. While it is important to understand the mathematical procedures, the physical approach should not
be neglected either. The use of intuitive approaches
has been a practice among instructors of electromagnetics for long; nevertheless, no formal text gets into
the details of any intuitive approach rendering majority of students of electromagnetics unaware of those.
This article obtains the field solutions of the rectangular waveguides through physical analysis of boundary
conditions and 1D Maxwells equations. The use of
boundary conditions to intuitively arrive at the field
solutions is not new either; however, such an approach
had been unable to provide the complete solutions of
the problem (i.e. it could not relate the amplitudes of
the wave functions with each other). In this article, a
newer approach is taken which obtains a complete
solution to the field equations including those of
relating the amplitudes. Here, the traditional method
is not explicitly covered; therefore, it can be better
appreciated if perused in conjunction with any of the
references [15].
76

2.

GENERAL SOLUTION OF 3D WAVE


EQUATIONS

The solutions of Helmholtz equations for rectangular


waveguides in source-less medium may be achieved by
solving it through separation of variables [1]. The procedure for obtaining the solutions in Cartesian coordinate
system is explained as follows:
r 2 c k2 c D 0

(1)

The 3D Helmholtz equation shown in Eq. (1) may be


expressed in Cartesian system as
@2 c @2 c @2 c
C 2 C 2 C k2 c D 0
@x2
@y
@z

(2)

In the method of separation of variables, the solution


of the above equation takes the following form:
c D XxYyZz

(3)

Here the solution is the product of three functions of


one variable each, where each variable depicts one of
the three different dimensions/coordinates. All the
three functions are independent of each other. Substituting the value of c from Eq. (3) into Eq. (2) and subsequently dividing it by c yields the following:
1 @2 c
1 @2 c
1 @2 c
C
C
C k2 c D 0
X @x2
Y @y2
Z @z2

(4)

Since each term in the above relation is independent of


the other, each may correspond to a constant too;
IETE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | VOL 55 | NO 2 | JULDEC 2014

Chakravorty P: Analysis of Rectangular Waveguides An Intuitive Approach

therefore, the following assumptions can be made


here:
9
8
2
1 @2 c
>
2 1@ c
2>
>
>
D

k
;
D

k
<
x
y=
X @x2
Y @y2
(5)
2
>
>
>
>
;
: 1 @ c D k2
z
Z @z2

Downloaded by [New York University] at 10:36 05 August 2015

where kx, ky and kz are constants. The choice of negative constants is for a later convenience. This leads us
to three different, 1D Helmholtz equations corresponding to each of the three dimensions (i.e. x, y, z):
9
8 2
dX
d2 Y
>
>
2
2
>
=
< 2 C kx X D 0; 2 C ky Y D 0 >
dx
dy
2
>
>
>
>
;
: d Z C k2 Z D 0
z
2
dz

(6)

Here the separation parameters, kx, ky and kz, must satisfy the following condition:
k2 D k2x C k2y C k2z D 0

(7)

The factor k is also known as the wave number. All the


equations given by Eq. (6) are of the same type and
may be called harmonic equations and the solution of
these equations will be harmonic functions given by
cx; y; z D c0 hkx xhky yhkz z

(8)

where c(x,y,z) may be E (electric field Intensity), H


(magnetic Field Intensity) etc., and c0 is the amplitude.
h(krr) for r D x, y, z are harmonic functions which may
assume the following forms:
hkr r : sinkr r; coskr r; ejkr r ; ejkr r
The subscript r used above denotes different orthogonal directions/dimensions (i.e. x, y, z).

3.

FIELD EQUATIONS IN RECTANGULAR


WAVEGUIDE

For wave propagation in a rectangular waveguide (as


shown in Figure 1), the wave can travel only along z
direction as all the other directions are bound by conducting walls. Therefore, when a wave does not propagate along z direction, then kz becomes zero and the
wave number consequently is termed as cut-off wave
number kc, and, correspondingly, the frequency in this
condition becomes cut-off frequency fc:
k2 D k2c D k2x C k2y ; kc D

q
k2x C k2y {kz D 0

IETE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | VOL 55 | NO 2 | JULDEC 2014

(9)

Figure 1: A rectangular waveguide.

From boundary conditions, the tangential components


of electric field and perpendicular component of magnetic fields vanish at the conductor boundaries. The
solutions to the field equations of rectangular waveguide can be determined using Eq. (8) and boundary
conditions. It shall be worth mentioning here that the
directions that are bound by conducting walls trap the
waves to form standing wave; therefore, the harmonic
functions representing the fields in these directions
shall be a function of sines and cosines only. The
field expression, along the direction in which the wave
propagates, may be expressed in the form of ejkr.
Therefore, the following thumb rules may be considered while directly writing the field solutions for rectangular waveguides:
(1) In the present case, the directions x and y are
bound by conducting walls to form standing waves;
therefore, h(kxx) and h(kyy) will be either sin(kxx) or
cos(kxx) as per the boundary rules given below:
(a) wherever the electric field lines are parallel/
tangential to the boundaries, the sine function
shall be assumed; else a cosine function shall be
applicable;
(b) wherever the magnetic field lines are perpendicular/normal to the boundaries, a sine function shall be assumed; else a cosine function
shall be applicable.
(2) The direction z is open for propagation; therefore,
h(kzz) shall always be ejkz for wave propagation
along Cz direction.
Using Eq. (8) and the thumb rules, the field quantities
H and E for TEmn modes are expressed; here m and n
are positive integers and represent mode numbers.
3.1

The TEmn Mode (Ez D 0)

In this mode, the electric field component along z


direction is zero; hence, in usual practice, the field entities are expressed in terms of magnetic field intensity
in z direction. Standing waves are formed along xand y directions due to the walls of the waveguide;
furthermore, since the magnetic field along z
77

Chakravorty P: Analysis of Rectangular Waveguides  An Intuitive Approach

direction falls parallel to all the possible boundaries,


h(kxx) and h(kyy) of Eq. (8) should assume cosine functions as per thumb rule 1(b). The general solution of
these functions has integral number of possibilities
represented by m (for x direction) and n (for y direction). Therefore, the magnetic field along z (Hz) can
be expressed as follows:
mpx npy
H z D Hoz cos
cos
e gz az
a
b

(10)

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Here, jkz has been written as g (propagation constant)


for wave motion along z direction as a matter of
choice. Using different boundary conditions and Eq.
(8), other field quantities can be obtained in a similar
way as follows:
9
mpx npy
8
>
Ex D Eox cos
sin
e gz ax >
>
>
>
>
>
>
a
b
>
>
>
>




>
>
>
>
mpx
npy
>

gz
>
>
ay >
cos
e
=
< Ey D Eoy sin
a
b
mpx npy
>
>
>
>
>
H x D Hox sin
cos
e gz ax >
>
>
>
>
a
b
>
>
>
>
>
>




>
>
mpx
npy
>
>
gz
: H y D Hoy cos
ay ;
sin
e
a
b

(11)

(12)

r E D

@D
@E
De
@t
@t

@B
@H
D m
@t
@t

(16)

3.1.1 Calculation of Ex and Ey in terms of Hoz


For the sake of uniformity and standard practice, amplitudes of electric fields and magnetic fields in this subsection are related in terms of Hoz (i.e. the amplitude of Hz).
Figure 2 shows how it may be intuitively deciphered
that Hz is contributed by two transverse electromagnetic
(TEM) waves described below in cases (1) and (2):

However, the existence of Hz inhibits the possibility of


TEM wave motion along z direction. It can be observed
that Hz is contributed by wave motions along both x
and y directions, but not z direction; similarly, Ex
and Ey are contributed by wave motion along y and
x directions, respectively. Therefore, for cases (1) and
(2), Eq. (15) changes to the following equations:
@Hz
k2
Ex
ax D jv^e vEx D y^Ex D
z^
@y
@Hz
k2
Ey
ay D jv^e vEy D y^Ey D
z^
@x

(17)
(18)

(13)
(14)

Substituting time-harmonic variation of H and E in the


Maxwells equations in the expressions above (for 1D
wave motion in lossless and source-less medium) and
considering wave motion in z direction, Eqs. (13) and
78

(15)

Here y^ D jve and z^ D jvm (for lossless transmission).

Expressions of Eq. (11) have a drawback of unrelated


amplitudes (i.e. amplitudes Eox, Eoy, Hox and Hoy are
not related to each other). The amplitudes of the fields
are not independent and hence must be related to
obtain the complete field solutions. To achieve the relational amplitudes, traditionally, the 3D Maxwells vector equations need to be expanded and solved [2].
Here a rather simpler way is presented whereby the
aforesaid values are calculated from physical insight
and Maxwells 1D equations as follows:
r H D J d D

@Hy
ax D jv^e vEx D y^Ex
@z
@Ex
ay D jv^
m vH y D z^H y

@z

(1) Ex and Hz are contributed by a wave motion along


negative y direction.
(2) Ey and Hz are contributed by a wave motion along
positive x direction.

From the above solutions, the values of kx and ky are


found as follows:
r

mp
np
mp2 np2
and ky D
;kc D
C
kx D
a
b
a
b

(14) can be simplified [1] as follows:

Figure 2: Hz being contributed by two TEM wave motions


along y and Cx directions (the direction of wave motions
are not shown in the figure).

IETE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | VOL 55 | NO 2 | JULDEC 2014

Chakravorty P: Analysis of Rectangular Waveguides An Intuitive Approach

Here, it is important to take cognizance of the fact that


since Hz is contributed by wave motions along x and
y directions only, and not z direction, the expression
of k in Eqs. (17) and (18) must also not contain the z
component to comply with this condition. Moreover,
neither Eq. (17) nor Eq. (18) allows a wave motion
along zdirection; therefore, in this case, the value of k
becomes kc from Eq. (9), where kz D 0; this stipulation
may also be viewed as a boundary condition imposed
on the basic Maxwells equations. Substituting the
expression of Hz from Eq. (10) into Eqs. (17) and (18),
the expressions of Ex and Ey are calculated as follows:
mpx npy
z^ np
1 @H z

Hoz cos
sin
e gz ax
y^z^ b
y^ @y
a
b
mpx npy
jvm np
; Ex 2
Hoz cos
sin
e gz ax
k
b
a
b
since k kc ; in this case as explained earlier:
mpx npy
jvm np
Ex 2
Hoz cos
sin
e gz ax
kc
b
a
b

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Ex

(19)
Similarly,
mpx npy
jvm mp
sin
Ey D
H
cos
e gz ay
oz
k2c
a
a
b

(20)

Ez D Eoz sin

The magnetic fields can be directly related to their corresponding electric fields with the help of intrinsic
impedance as follows:
(21)

mpx npy
sin
e gz az
a
b

(24)

3.2.1 Calculation of Hx and Hy in terms of Eoz


In TMmn, the amplitudes of magnetic and electric fields
are related in terms of Eoz (i.e the amplitude of Ez) as a
matter of standard practice. Since closed loop of H in
xy plane supports electric field Ez, and all H fields
in xy plane can be resolved into Hx and Hy as shown
in Figure 3, both Hx and Hy support Ez.
Consequently, Ez, Hx. and Hy can be seen to be contributed by the following:
(1) Wave motion along positive y direction contributes
Hx and Ez components.
(2) Wave motion along negative x direction contributes Hy and Ez components.
Therefore, for cases (1) and (2),Eq. (16) changes to the
following equations:

3.1.2 Calculation of Hx and Hy in terms of Hoz

H x D Ey =h and H y D Ex =h

the field expressions are written in terms of electric


field intensity in z direction as a standard practice.
From boundary conditions and Eq. (8),

@Ez
k2
Hx
ax D jv^
m vH x D z^H x D
y^
@y

@Ez
k2
Hy
ay D jv^
m vH y D z^H y D
y^
@z

(25)
(26)

For similar reasons described in the preceding subsections, the wave number k here will be equal to kc; in
this case, with kz D 0. Substituting the expression of Ez

Substituting the values of electric fields from Eqs. (19)


and (20) into Eq. (21), the magnetic field intensities can
be written as follows:
r p
mpx npy
y^ z^ mp
p
Hoz sin
cos
e gz ax
a
b
z^ z^ a
mpx npy
g mp
; Hx 2
Hoz sin
cos
e gz ax
kc a
a
b

1
; Hx
y^

(22)
Similarly,
Hy D

mpx npy
g np
cos
H
sin
e gz ay
oz
k2c b
a
b

3.2

The TMmn Mode (Hz D 0)

(23)

The TMmn mode equations can be found out using similar concept as applied before. As the magnetic field
component along z direction is absent in this mode,
IETE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | VOL 55 | NO 2 | JULDEC 2014

Figure 3: Ez contributed by wave motions along Cy and


x directions supported by Hx and Hy.

79

Chakravorty P: Analysis of Rectangular Waveguides  An Intuitive Approach

from Eq. (24) into Eqs. (25) and (26), the expressions of
Hx and Hy are obtained as follows:
mpx npy
1 @Ez
y^ np
Eoz sin
cos
e gz ax

Hx
z^ @y
a
b
y^z^ b
mpx npy
jve np
;H x 2
Eoz sin
cos
e gz ax
kc b
a
b
(27)
Similarly,
Hy D

mpx npy
jve mp
E
sin
e gz ay
cos
oz
k2c
a
a
b

(28)

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3.2.2 Calculation of Ex and Ey in terms of Eoz


As before, the electric fields can be related to magnetic
fields as follows:
Ex D H y h and Ey D H x h

(29)

Substituting the values of magnetic fields from


Eqs. (27) and (28) into Eq. (29), the electric field intensities can be written as follows:
s p
mpx npy
y^ z^ mp
p
Eoz cos
sin
e gz ax
y^ y^ a
a
b
mpx npy
g mp
; Ex 2
Eoz cos
sin
e gz ax
kc a
a
b

1
; Ex
z^

(30)

Similarly,
Ey D

4.

mpx npy
g np
E
cos
e gz ay
sin
oz
kc 2 b
a
b

(31)

CONCLUSION

The article takes an intuitive approach of analysing the


field equations of rectangular waveguides unlike the
traditional mathematical approach of regular formal
texts. The approach shown here is new in the sense
that it finds the complete solution of the field equations
which earlier intuitive approaches did not. The idea of
obtaining the magnetic and electric field quantities
contributed from more than one TEM wave provides a
simple but good physical insight in the treatise. The
techniques described here to solve field equations for
rectangular waveguides may be used to build a better
concept among students studying undergraduate
courses of electromagnetics; however, the traditional
method has its own importance of precision and wide
acceptability. Therefore, the present process should
not be treated as its substitute.

REFERENCES
1.

R. F. Harrington, Time-Harmonic Electromagnetic Fields.


New Jersey: IEEE Press, 2001.

2.

M. N. O. Sadiku, Elements of Electromagnetics. New York:


Oxford University Press, 2001.

3.

W. H. Hayt Jr., and J. A. Buck, Engineering Electromagnetics.


New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001.

4.

J. A. Stratton, Electromagnetic Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill,


1941.

5.

D. M. Pozar, Microwave Engineering. New York: John Wiley &


Sons, 1998.

Author
Pragnan Chakravorty received his MTech
degree in RF & Microwave Engineering from
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, in
the year 2005. He is currently engaged in a
SERB-DST Government of India project
named Studies on Novel Optimization Techniques to Synthesize Radiation Pattern of
Antenna Arrays with the Department of ECE
in National Institute of Technology, Durgapur.
He has gathered an experience of over 13 years in teaching various
UG and PG courses across several engineering colleges of India. He

is the founder director of a research group named Clique for Applied


Research in Electronic Technology (http://www.caretsite.in). His
research interests include antenna array pattern synthesis and optimization, design of passive and active microwave circuits over PCB
technologies, etc. He also keeps keen interest in improving pedagogical techniques, designing organizational structure for educational
institutes, bringing innovative procedures in educational management, etc.
E-mail: pciitkgp@ieee.org

DOI: 10.1080/09747338.2014.1002819; Copyright 2015 by the IETE

80

IETE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION | VOL 55 | NO 2 | JULDEC 2014

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