Modelling electromagnetic properties of typical building materials

This contribution discusses the modelling and validation of two kinds of building materials by using numerical electromagnetic analysis software based on the method of moments (MoM). The modelled materials are ferroconcrete and plasterboards, whose shielding effectiveness has already been measured in a study. Based on the measurement results, the material can be characterized by simplified models. Therefore, all metals are assumed to be perfect conductors. Real and imaginary parts of the permittivity of mixed materials are approximated by Debye-equations or by a Cole-Cole estimation. Finally, the shielding effectiveness of numerically calculated building materials is validated and compared with measurement results in a frequency range of 50-1000 MHz. Measured and calculated shielding effectiveness show a good agreement for some devices under test (DUT), for example plasterboard, which contains metallic structures. An Implementation is performed for a DUT with lossy material characteristics in consideration of the Debye-equation. The calculated shielding effectiveness of this DUT is satisfactory.