This study proposes a comprehensive model of the circular arc terminated (CAT) resistive anode based on the finite element method to explore the dynamic process of charge diffusion on this anode and its position linearity performance. The waveforms of charges of the electrodes on the anode are calculated for different electrical parameters and their influence on positional linearity is investigated. The influence of the signal development time and the non-uniformity of the resistance per square of the anode on positional linearity is also analyzed. The results of simulations show that the non-linearity of the image varies monotonically with the termination resistance and the non-uniformity of the resistance per square of the anode, but has a non-linear relationship with the signal development time and the ratio of the resistance per square. A CAT resistive anode with capacitance c and a resistance per square of the sensitive area of R▱ can be used to recover an image with a root mean-squared non-linearity of 2%, when the charge signals of the electrode are collected for at least 0.6R▱c s. The reliability of the results of the simulations was verified with experimental measurements.