CE 72.

12 Finite Element Methods in Engineering

Lecture 09: Isoparametric Formulation
Semester – January 2023

Dr. Chaitanya Krishna

Department of Civil and Infrastructure Engineering
School of Engineering and Technology (SET)

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“Accurately representing the geometry and behavior of elements
in a finite element mesh can be challenging, especially when
dealing with complex shapes and large numbers of nodes.”

Is there a technique in FEA that utilizes consistent local

coordinates and shape functions based on nodal displacements to
simplify the representation of elements' geometry and behavior,
offering advantages such as ease of implementation,
interpolation, and mesh refinement for improved accuracy?

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Complex Geometry

Isoparametric Formulation

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Isoparametric Formulation 4

• Isoparametric formulation is a method for describing the

geometry and shape functions of elements in a finite
element mesh.
• It uses local coordinates that are the same for all
elements, regardless of their shape or size.
• Shape functions are used to describe the element's
deformation based on nodal displacements.
• The isoparametric formulation is easy to implement and
allows for easy interpolation between nodal points and
mesh refinement.
• It is widely used in FEA due to its simplicity, accuracy, and
versatility.

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Advantages 5

• It allows to create elements with a shape of a straight

line or a curved
• Finally, we will consider several higher-order elements
and shape functions
• It makes formulations for computer program simple

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Definitions of Isoparametric Form 6

Linear Case
𝑥′
𝑢ො 𝑒 𝑥, 𝑡 = 𝑁1 𝑥 ′ 𝑢ො 1 𝑒 t + 𝑁2 𝑥 ′ 𝑢
ෞ2 𝑒 t = 𝜉 𝜉 𝜖[ 𝑎, 𝑏 ]
ℎ𝑒
′ 𝑥′ ′ 𝑥′
𝑁1 𝑥 =1− and 𝑁2 𝑥 =1− 𝑁1 𝜉 = 1 − 𝜉; 𝑁2 𝜉 = 𝜉; 0 ≤ 𝜉 ≤ 1
ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒

𝑥 𝑒 = 𝑁1 𝜉 𝑥1𝑒 + 𝑁2 𝜉 𝑥2𝑒 ⇒ 𝑁1 𝑥1 + 𝑁2 𝑥2 Coordinate

 𝑢ො 𝑒 = 𝑁1 𝜉 𝑢ො 1𝑒 + 𝑁2 𝜉 𝑢ො 2𝑒 ⇒ 𝑁1 𝑢1 + 𝑁2 𝑢2 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡

𝑤 ෝ1𝑒 + 𝑁2 𝜉 𝑤
ෝ 𝑒 = 𝑁1 𝜉 𝑤 ෝ2𝑒 ⇒ 𝑁1 𝑤1 + 𝑁2 𝑤2 𝐴𝑟𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝐹𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

Isoparametric form
𝜉 is called the parent coordinate
Jacobian 7

Consider,
𝜕𝑓 𝜕𝑓 𝜕𝜉 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝜉
𝑓 𝜉 = = . ⇒ let f ξ = x ⇒ =1=
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝜉 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝜉 𝜕𝑥

𝜕𝑥
is called the Jacobian , Calculated from the shape function
𝜕𝜉

𝜕𝜉 1
⇒ =
𝜕𝑥 𝑗𝑒

For a linear 𝜕𝑥 𝑒 𝜕𝜉 1 1
𝑗𝑒 = = 𝑥2𝑒 = 𝑥1𝑒 = ℎ𝑒 = =
shape function 𝜕𝜉 𝜕𝑥 𝑗𝑒 ℎ𝑒

The derivatives of shape functions can be written as :

Linear Shape Function

𝜕𝑁𝑎 𝜕𝑁𝑎 𝜕𝜉 𝜕𝑁𝑎 1
= = .
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝜉 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥 𝑗𝑒 𝜕𝑁𝑎 1
⇒ . ; 𝑎 = 1,2
𝜕𝜉 ℎ𝑒
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Higher Order Elements 8

𝑛 Total order
𝑢𝑒 = 𝑢ො 𝑒 = ෍ 𝑁𝑎 𝜉 . 𝑢ෞ𝑎
𝑎
𝑢
ෞ𝑎 are unknown
parameters

Example
1 𝜉𝑎 = 𝜉𝑏 𝑁1 𝑢1 + 𝑁2 𝑢2 −−−− −Linear
𝑁𝑎 𝜉 = 𝛿𝑎𝑏 =ቊ
0 𝜉𝑎 ≠ 𝜉𝑏 𝑁1 𝑢1 + 𝑁2 𝑢2 + 𝑁3 𝑢3 − −𝑄𝑢𝑎𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐
𝑁1 𝑢1 + 𝑁2 𝑢2 + 𝑁3 𝑢3 + 𝑁4 𝑢4 − −𝐶𝑢𝑏𝑖𝑐
.. ..
..
Lagrange Interpolation:
𝑛
𝑝 𝜉 − 𝜉𝑏 𝜉 − 𝜉1 𝜉 − 𝜉2 𝜉 − 𝜉3 … . . 𝜉 − 𝜉𝑁
𝑙𝑎 (𝜉) = ෑ =
𝜉𝑎 − 𝜉𝑏 𝜉𝑎 − 𝜉1 𝜉𝑎 − 𝜉2 𝜉𝑎 − 𝜉3 … . . (𝜉𝑎 − 𝜉𝑁 )
𝑏=1
𝑏≠𝑎
𝑝
𝑁𝑎 𝜉 =𝑙𝑎 (𝜉)
Linear Shape Functions 9

Previously 𝜉1 = 0 → 𝜉2 = 1 𝑁1
𝑁2

1 1

𝑁𝑜𝑤, 𝜉1 = −1, 𝜉2 = 1 𝑥1𝑒 𝑥2𝑒

ℎ𝑒
𝑁1 𝑁2 𝜉=0 𝜉=1

➢ This part will be useful in integration

𝜉 = −1 0 𝜉2 = 1

• For 1D Element Essential Property

𝑝 𝑛
𝑁𝑎 𝜉 = 𝑙𝑎 𝜉
෍ 𝑁𝑎 (𝜉) = 1
𝑎=1

This is the only condition that has

to be satisfied for shape function.
 10

• 𝜉1 = −1 𝜉2 = 1
𝜉 = −1 𝜉2 = 1

𝜉 −1 1
𝑁1 𝜉 = 𝑙11 𝜉 = = (1−𝜉)
−1−1 2 1 1
𝑁1 + 𝑁2 = 1−𝜉 + 1+𝜉 =1
2 2
𝜉+1 1
𝑁2 𝜉 = 𝑙21 𝜉 = = (1+𝜉)
1+1 2

Jacobian for a 2 Node Element is :

𝜕𝑥 1 1 𝜕𝑁𝑎 𝜕𝑁𝑎 𝜕𝜉 2 𝜕𝑁𝑎

𝑗𝑒 𝜉 = = 𝑥2𝑒 − 𝑥1𝑒 = ℎ = = 𝑒
𝜕𝜉 2 2 𝑒 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝜉 𝜕𝑥 ℎ 𝜕𝜉
Quadratic Shape Functions 11

• 𝜉1 = −1 , 𝜉2 = 1 , and 𝜉3 = 0 −1 0 1
x x x
(𝜉−1)(𝜉−0) 1
𝑁1 𝜉 = ℓ12 𝜉 = 𝜉 𝜉−1 𝜉1 𝜉3 𝜉2
−1−1 (−1−0) 2

(𝜉+1)(𝜉−0) 1
Another Possibility:
𝑁2 𝜉 = ℓ22 𝜉 = 𝜉 𝜉+1
1+1 (1−0) 2 −1 0 1
x x x
𝜉1 𝜉2 𝜉3
(𝜉+1)(𝜉−0)
𝑁3 𝜉 = ℓ23 𝜉 = 1 − 𝜉2
0+1 (0−1)

• The parametric form of the physical element is :

𝑥 = 𝑁1 𝜉 . 𝑥1𝑒 + 𝑁2 𝜉 . 𝑥2𝑒 + 𝑁3 𝜉 . 𝑥3𝑒

The Jacobian is:

𝜕𝑥 1 𝑒 1 𝑒
𝑗𝑒 𝜉 = = (𝜉 − )𝑥1 + (𝜉 + )𝑥2 − 2𝜉𝑥3𝑒
𝜕𝜉 2 2
1 𝜕𝑁𝑎 1 𝜕𝑁𝑎
𝑗𝑒 = ℎ𝑒 + ξ 𝑥1𝑒 + 𝑥2𝑒 − 2𝑥3𝑒 ; = .
2 𝜕𝑥 𝑗𝑒 𝜉 𝜕𝜉
where, ℎ𝑒 = 𝑥2𝑒 − 𝑥1𝑒
Numerical Integration 12
• Solution to integrals on the parent element:
Quadrature Rule:
In numerical analysis , it is an approximation of a definite integral
of a function.
Jacobian
𝜕𝑥
𝑑𝑥 = 𝑑𝜉 = 𝑗𝑒 𝜉 𝑑𝜉 Gauss Quadrature
𝜕𝜉
Technique
1
𝐼 = ‫׬‬−1 𝑓 𝜉 𝑑𝜉 ≈ σ𝑛𝑗=1 𝑓(𝜉𝑗 )𝑤𝑗
ℎ𝑒 1
∴⇒ ‫׬‬0 𝑓 𝑥 𝑑𝑥 = ‫׬‬−1 𝑓መ 𝜉 𝑗𝑒 (𝜉) . 𝑑𝜉
≈ 𝑤1 𝑥 𝑓 𝜉 + 𝑤2 𝑓(𝜉)
+ - -- - - - -
where, 𝑓መ 𝜉 = 𝑓(𝑥 𝜉 )

𝑝+1
𝑛=
2  No. of points
Thumb rule
Quadrature Points 13

Quadrature Points Weights

Gauss Points (𝒙𝒊 ) (𝒘𝒊 )
2 ±√(1/3) 1
3 -√(3/5) 0.5556
0 0.8889
√(3/5) 0.5556
4 -0.8611 0.3479
Gauss-Legendre Quadrature
-0.3400 0.6521
0.3400 0.6521
0.8611 0.3479
5 -0.9062 0.2369
-0.5385 0.4786
0 0.5689
0.5385 0.4786
0.9062 0.2369
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Gaussian Quadrature 14

• Gaussian quadrature is a numerical method for

approximating definite integrals.
• In Gaussian quadrature, the integral of a function is
approximated using a set of carefully chosen points and
corresponding weights.
• Gaussian quadrature is commonly used in finite element
methods to approximate integrals in the weak form of a
partial differential equation.
• Gaussian quadrature is efficient, easy to implement, and
highly accurate.
• Gaussian quadrature has become a standard tool for
numerical integration in finite element methods.

13 February 2023