Finite Element Chapter 1.pptVIP

FEM PRELIMINARIES Physical phenomena can be studied in two steps: Law of physics, e.g. equilibrium, compatibility Mathematical tools, e.g. differential equations Interested quantities can then be related, e.g. strain and stress, displacement and force With certain assumptions, a mathematical model can then be developed, e.g. plane stress(sz=0) However, seeking the exact solution is a formidable task 2nd step: Numerical analysis Numerical methods Applications of electronic computing facilities Finite difference method Variational methods The FEM is an application of variational methods The Variational Methods The differential equation is firstly reformed as an equivalent weighted-integral form An approximation solution(u=Scjfj) is assumed Coefficients cj are determined which satisfy the equivalent integral form There are several methods based on different integral form, weight function and approximation function, e.g. Rayleigh-Ritz. A drawback of Variational Methods For awkward domains, the approximation functions (fj) are difficult to construct FEM overcomes this drawback An awkward domain is represented as a collection of subdomains (Finite Element). Over each subdomain, the approximate functions are represented by a linear combination of algebraic polynomials. Undetermined coefficients are obtained by satisfying the governing equations of each subdomain. Basically, FEM is an application of many ‘mini’ variational methods. Characteristics of FEM The approximation functions are often algebraic polynomials of interpolation functions, e.g. f2=4x(1-x). The undetermined coefficients(cj) are the values of the solution at a some preselected points, nodes, e.g. the displacements in stress analyses. The degree of the functions(fj) depends on the numbers of nodes and order of differential equation. Basic ideas of FEM-1 Basic ideas of FEM-2 Basic ideas of FEM-2 The he denotes the length of the e-th interval, the finite element. Tej, the nodal value, is the temperature Te(r) a