© D.

Schöllhammer, Institute of Structural Analysis, TU Graz

FEM – Basics of the FEM, Exercise 3

Applications of the
Finite Element Method
to
Boundary Value Problems
DI Daniel Schöllhammer
Institute of Structural Analysis
Graz University of Technology
WS 2019/20

FEM – LE 3 Slide: 1
 © D. Schöllhammer, Institute of Structural Analysis, TU Graz
Lecture Outline
 EduFEM: Application Program Structure

 The FEM Element-Integration, Assembly, Solve procedures

 EduFEM Specific:
 Run Convergence Studies
 Adding additional Test-Cases

 Vizualization of results with EduFEM

FEM – LE 3 Slide: 2
 © D. Schöllhammer, Institute of Structural Analysis, TU Graz
BVPs in EduFEM
Implemented BVP’s
 L2 - Projection (1D, 2D, 3D)
 Laplace Operator (2D, 3D)
 Linear Elasticity (1D, 2D, 3D)
 Finite Strains (geometrically non-linear elasticity, see FEM II)
 Beams (Bernoulli beam, Timoshenko beam)
 Plate (Kirchhoff plate, Reissner-Mindlin plate)

 ... (more BVPs may be implemented as Master’s Project/Thesis)

FEM – LE 3 Slide: 3
 © D. Schöllhammer, Institute of Structural Analysis, TU Graz
Implementation Overview
Typical Function Hierarchy

...Run run convergence study of problem

...Main run a single problem

...Input

...Solve

for each Element:

...ElemInt

if applicable:
...L2Norm

...ExactSol

FEM – LE 3 Slide: 4
 © D. Schöllhammer, Institute of Structural Analysis, TU Graz
Convergence Studies in EduFEM
 If exact solution is known, L2 Error can be computed and
compared with different discretizations (i.e. number of elements,
element order vs. L2 Error)
 __Run.m contains code to run convergence studies
 __VisConf.m is responsible for plotting convergence rate

 After running __Run.m, copy the L2 Error Matrix into __VisConf.m

FEM – LE 3 Slide: 5
 © D. Schöllhammer, Institute of Structural Analysis, TU Graz
Changing the Input Parameters
 Problem Inputs (ie. geoemtry, BCs) are realized in EduFEM as
separate TestCases
 To add additional domains, BCs: add a new TestCase.
 Hint: Functions where TestCase variable is passed, contains
input-specific code.
...Run

...Main

...Input (..., TestCase, ...)

...Solve

for each Element:

...ElemInt

if applicable:
...L2Norm

...ExactSol (..., TestCase, ...)

FEM – LE 3 Slide: 6
 © D. Schöllhammer, Institute of Structural Analysis, TU Graz
Example TestCase 200
given:
elastic disc (plane strain), 𝐸 = 2.1 ∗ 104 , 𝜈 = 0.3,
body force: 𝑓𝑥 = 0, 𝑓𝑦 = −2500

1.0

2.0

FEM – LE 3 Slide: 7
 © D. Schöllhammer, Institute of Structural Analysis, TU Graz
MATLAB excurse: Global Variables
 Sometimes values need to be changed within deeply nested
functions (e.g. a beam height).
 There are three options
1. Edit variable inside function manually each run
2. Pass variable to all functions via headers (all headers and function
calls must be adapted)
3. Define variable as global

global BEAM_HEIGHT; % define as global

BEAM_HEIGHT = 0.25; % value will be changed in every function

where the variable is defined as global

FEM – LE 3 Slide: 8