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Intro to FEM (continued) Examples of using FEM to solve a problem and comparison with exact solution: We consider a problem already discussed in the previous class:

x
g

Solution by exact method:

x (L x ) 2E g (L 2 x ) = 2 u=

u
gL
2

0
0
L 2

L 2

gL
2

Now we will solve the same problem by FEM: In FEM, the displacement is discretized as u ( x) = reduced to algebraic equation:

u
k =1

wk ( x) and the governing equation is

KU = F or
where K jk =

K
k =1

jk

uk = Fj
L

L 0

' (x )dx , F j = f w j (x ) dx = g w j (x ) dx (see notes of E w'j ( x )wk L 0 0

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previous lecture). FEM nodes:

wj
1

j 1 j j + 1

x x j 1 , x x j 1 , x j x x j j 1 x j +1 x , x x j , x j +1 w j (x ) = x j +1 x j 0, otherwise

] ]

Case study 1: In the simplest possible case, we choose only one node, i.e. n = 1 . In this case, we have one node and 2 elements.

L/2

u ( x ) = u1w1 ( x )
x ,0< x< L 2 L2 w1 ( x ) = Lx ,L 2< x< L L2

2 L,0< x< L 2 w1' ( x ) = 2 , L 2 < x < L L 0, otherwise

2

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K11u1 = F1
L L 2 E 2 K11 = E w1' ( x )dx = E dx = 4 0 0 L L 2

F1 = g w1 ( x ) dx =
L 0

gL
2

u1 =

gL2 F1 = K11 8E

u=

g
2E

x(L x )

0
Exact solution:

L 2
g L
L gL2 L = 2E 2 2 8E

u (x = L 2) =

FEM solution for stress:

( x ) = Eu ' (x ) = Eu1 w1' ( x ) =

=

2 Eu1 / L, 0 < x < L 2 2 Eu1 / L, L 2 < x < L

gL 1, 0 < x < L 2

4 1, L 2 < x < L

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integration points

Remarks: 1.

FEM = (x ) element (Stress calculated using FEM corresponding to an average of stress over

an element). 2. Stress is not well defined at the nodal points (taking on different values depending on which side of the node). It is better to evaluate stress at integration points. Case study 2: With slightly more sophistication and still within the possibility of doing calculation by hand, we can choose two nodes n = 2 .

L 3

2L 3

u ( x ) = u1w1 ( x ) + u2 w2 ( x )
x 0, 2 L / 3 < x < L ,0< x<L 3 L3 x L 3 , L 3 < x < 2L 3 w1 ( x ) = 2 L 3 x , L 3 < x < 2 L 3 , w2 ( x ) = L 3 L3 Lx , 2L 3 < x < L 0, 2 L / 3 < x < L L3

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3 L , (0, L 3) 3 w1' (x ) = , (L 3 , 2 L 3) , L 0 , (2 L 3 , L )

0, (0, L 3) 3 ' (x ) = w2 , ( L 3 , 2 L 3) L 3 , (2 L 3 , L ) L

w1

w2

K K = 11 K 21
L

K12 K 22
'2 1 2L 3 0

K11 = E w ( x )dx =
0 L 2

6E 3 E dx = L L 6E 3 E dx = L L
2L 3 L3 2

' (x )dx = K 22 = E w2 0

L L3

' (x )dx = K12 = E w1' ( x )w2 L 0

3E 3 3 = K 21 E dx = L L L

K=

3E 2 1 L 1 2

(Comment: The stiffness matrix is highly banded and sparse, and in some cases can be easily determined. If n = 100 for the present problem, we can extract the above calculations to determine

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2 1 1 2 1 K = Cn 1 2 O 1 O O 1 2

Nodal forces: F1 = F2 =

gL
3

KU = F
3E 2 1 u1 gL 1 = 3 1 L 1 2 u 2 2 u1 gL 1 2 1 1 gL2 1 = = 9 E 1 9E 3 1 2 1 u 2

u1 = u2 =

gL2
9E

Exact solution:

u ( x = L 3) =

g L

L gL2 L = 2E 3 3 9E

u ( x = 2 L 3) =

g 2L

2 L gL2 = L 2E 3 3 9E

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u=

g
2E

x(L x )

0
FEM solution for stress:

' (x ) (x ) = Eu ' (x ) = Eu1w1' (x ) + Eu2 w2

gL 2 gL 3

integration points

Brief overview of FEM in 2D and 3D (read course notes Section 1.2 on the web):

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Node number (integer); Nodal displacement (vector); (can also include other physical quantities e.g. temperature, pressure, etc.) Elements: associated with a number of nodes; Element connectivity; Type of elements: Linear elements: Quadratic elements:

3 nodal triangle (linear)

6 nodal triangle

w( x, y ) = a1 + a 2 x + a3 y

w( x, y ) = a1 + a 2 x + a34 y + a 4 xy + a 5 x 2 + a 6 y 2