CE 601: Numerical Methods

Lecture 37

Galerkin FEM

Course Coordinator:
Course Coordinator:
Dr. Suresh A. Kartha,
Associate Professor,
Department of Civil Engineering,
IIT Guwahati. 
In the last class, we started the discussion on Galerkin FEM.
We were considering the boundary-value ODE
d2y
2
+ Qy = F ; with appropriate BCs
dx
I a nutshell,
In t h ll the
th procedure
d is
i
i) Discretise the global solution domain D( x) into elements. There
can be I − nodes and I − 1 elements.
ii) Approximate y ( x) ≈ y ( x) = combinations of interpolating functions.
d2y
e R( x) = 2 + Qy − F
iii) Substitute y ( x) in the expression for residual ii.e.
dx
iv) The weighted integral is to be evaluated I = ∫ W ( x) R ( x)dx
v) Determine element equations for each element.
vi) Assemble element equations to form system equations.
vii)
ii) Adjust
Adj t the
th system
t equations
ti b considering
by id i boundary
b d conditions.
diti
viii) Solve the adjusted system equation for the nodal values yi .
1) The Domain Discretisation
The domain D( x) discretised: I → nodes and I − 1 → elements.
d2y
The global solution of 2
+ Qy = F is y ( x).
dx
Let us approximate this global solution
y ( x) ≈ y ( x) = y (1) ( x) + y (2) ( x) + + y (i ) ( x) + + y ( I −1) ( x)
This means that y ( x) is sum of series of local interpolating polynomials
y (i ) ( x); i = 1, 2,3,… , I − 1. These local interpolating polynomials are valid
only within the element ' i ', elsewhere it is zero.

2) We write y ( i ) ( x) = yi N i( i ) ( x) + yi N ii+)1 ( x)
x − xi +1 ⎫
Recall N i(i ) ( x) = −
∆x (i ) ⎪⎪
⎬ Linear Shape functions
x − xi ⎪
N i +1 ( x) = − ( i )
(i )

∆x ⎪⎭
You can also use higher order shape functions as well.
You can see that the shape function N i( i ) ( x ) is valid only for element ' i ' and
elsewhere it is zero.

3) T
To use Galerkin
G l ki method
h d
b b
I ( y ( x)) = ∫ W j ( x) R( x)dx = ∫ W j ( x) [ y "+ Qy − F ] dx = 0
a a

Now we have seen in the last class that

b
I ( y ( x)) = ∫ ⎣⎡ − y 'W j '+ QyW
Q W j − FW j ⎦⎤ddx + yb 'W j (b) − ya 'W j (a ) = 0
a

i.e. I ( y ( x)) = I (1) ( y ( x)) + I (2) ( y ( x)) + + I ( I −1) ( y ( x))

+ yb 'WI (b) − ya 'WI (a ) = 0
xi +1

where I (i ) ( y ( x)) = ∫ ⎡⎣− y 'W

xi
j W j ⎤⎦dx
'+ QyW j − FW

y ( i ) ( x) is the interpolating polynomial in the element i.

 x − xi +1 x − xi
y ( x) = yi N ( x) + yi +1 N ( x) = −
(i ) (i )
yi + − (i ) yi +1
(i )
i +1
∆x ∆x
i (i )

As suggested earlier Galerkin recommended use of shape functions

as weighing functions.
A N i( i ) ( x) = 00.0
As 0 ffor x > xi +1 & x < xi
N i(+i1) ( x) = 0.0 for x > xi +1 & x < xi
W can say that
We th t the
th total
t t l integral
i t i W j = N i(i )
l using
xi +1
⎡ (i ) ⎤
b
d
I ( y ( x)) = ∫ ( )dx = ∫ ⎢ − y ' ( N i
(i )
( x )) + QyN i
(i )
− FN i ⎥dx = 0
a xi ⎣ dx ⎦
∵ N i( i ) ( x) = 0 everywhere else other than xi < x < xi +1
Al N i( i ) (a ) = 0 and
Also d N i( i ) (b) = 0
Similarly for W j = N i(+i1) ( x)
xi +1
⎡ d (i ) ⎤
I ( y ( x)) = ∫ − + − i +1 ⎥dx = 0
(i ) (i )
⎢ y ' ( N i +1 ( x )) QyN i +1 FN
xi ⎣ dx ⎦
We now get two element equations for the element ' i '.
x − x dN (i )
1
Now since, N i ( x) = −
(i ) i +1
∴ i
= − (i )
∆x (i )
dx ∆x
dN i(+i1) 1
Smilarly, = (i ) .
dx ∆x
∴ In the two element equations:
xi +1
⎡ d (i ) ⎤
I ( y ( x)) = ∫ − + − i ⎥dx = 0
(i ) (i )
⎢⎣ y ' ( N i ( x )) QyN i FN
xi
dx ⎦
⎡ ⎛ x − xi +1 ⎞ ⎛ x − xi +1 ⎞ ⎤
xi +1
⎛ 1 ⎞
= ∫
xi
⎢ − y '× ⎜ − ∆x ( i ) ⎟ + Qy × ⎜ − ∆x ( i ) ⎟ − F × ⎜ − ∆x ( i ) ⎟ ⎥dx = 0
⎣ ⎝ ⎠ ⎝ ⎠ ⎝ ⎠⎦

1 ⎡ xi+1 xi +1 xi +1
⎤
i.e. ⎢ ∫ y 'dx − ∫ Qy ( x − xi +1 )dx + ∫ F ( x − xi +1 )dx ⎥ = 0
∆x (i ) ⎢⎣ xi xi xi ⎥⎦
 ( x − xi ) ( x − xi ) ⎤
xi +1
⎡ 1
Similarly, I ( y ( x)) = ∫
xi
⎢ − y '× ∆x ( i ) + Qy × ∆x ( i ) − F × ∆x ( i ) ⎥dx = 0
⎣ ⎦

1 ⎡ xi+1 xi +1 xi +1
⎤
or, ⎢ ∫ − y 'dx + ∫ Qy ( x − xi )dx − ∫ F ( x − xi )dx ⎥ = 0
∆x ( i )
⎢⎣ xi xi xi ⎥⎦
Using Q( x) and F ( x) as average values for each element
i Q (i ) ( x) andd F ( i ) ( x),
i.e. ) we gett
⎡ 1 ∆x (i )
⎤ ⎡ 1 ∆ x (i )
⎤ ∆x (i )
− yi ⎢ (i ) − Q (i ) +
⎥ i +1 ⎢ ( i )
y + Q (i )
⎥ − F (i )
=0
⎣ ∆x 3 ⎦ ⎣ ∆x 6 ⎦ 2
⎡ 1 ( i ) ∆x
(i )
⎤ ⎡ 1 ( i ) ∆x
(i )
⎤ ( i ) ∆x
(i )
yi ⎢ (i ) + Q ⎥ − yi +1 ⎢ ( i ) − Q ⎥−F =0
⎣ ∆x 6 ⎦ ⎣ ∆x 3 ⎦ 2
These are the two element equations in algebraic form.
Assemble these element equations
eq ations for all the elements starting from
element 1.