BASIC CONCEPTS OF FINITE

ELEMENT ANALYSIS

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 Design

Design is the process of creating a new thing or modifying

existing one.

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 Types of Design
• Adaptive Design

Adaptive design is the process in which the parameters of the

existing design or engineering device is slightly modified to
improve quality or to suit a new trend in the market. 
Ex: Bicycle is manufactured in different models to obtain
high speed, Mechanical Watches/clocks

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 Types of Design
•Developed design
Design engineer uses the working principle of one machine on
another machine and bring an entirely new product which may
possess good quality in working, size, etc.
Ex: Imposing IC Engine principle to cycle- motor cycle,
Mechanical clocks/watches to Electronic clock/watches,
manual gearbox of the car to the automatic gearbox.

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 Types of Design
• New design
• When designer develops something that didn’t exist before,
then the design is called new design
Example: New inventions

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 Why Design?
• Design is the most important factor in building a brand. 
• Success or failure of product depends on Design

• function, and aesthetics are the main purpose of Design

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 Case study
• Automobile- Antique cars vs modern cars
•Ambassador -king of Indian roads-British origin(1958-2014)

• Fiat Padmini-Italian Origin(1964-2000)

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 Case study
• Automobile- modern cars
•Hyundai –South Korea -started plant in 1998-exported 3 million vehicles

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 Case study
•Maruti –Japan-started plant in 1983-exported 2 million vehicles

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 Case study
•Two wheeler- Bajaj sunny for teenagers-(1990-1997)

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 Case study
• Reynolds Pen

• On October 29, 1945, the first Reynolds pen debuted at US. The day
the pen went on sale, an estimated 5,000 shoppers stormed the shop,
and approximately 50 officers had to be dispatched for crowd control.
• In 1980’s, Reynolds has entered India until present. Reynolds Pens are
now the favorite pens among millions around the World!.
• 16 different products

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 CAD
 Competition, aesthetics, Function are the main criteria
 Delay cannot be allowed

Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computer

systems to assist in the creation, modification, analysis, or
optimization of a design.
 Achieved using different software's

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 Software packages
-
 Ansys
 Nastran
 Adams
 Ansa
 Nisa
 Abaqus
 Pro-Mechnica
 Comsol
 Cosmos etc.

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 The Design Process
Recognition of need

Definition of problem

Geometric
model
Analysis &
Optimization
Evaluation

Presentatio
n

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 Why FEA?

 Irregular/ complex geometry

 Experimental analysis not possible

FEA
Differential Simultaneous
 equation equation

Continuous system
Discrete system
Time-independent PDE
Linear algebraic eq.
Time-dependent PDE

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 Basic concept
•regular/ uniform geometry Traditional method
(SOM) can be used
i.e.Stress=load/area
 For complex geometry
The fundamental concept involves dividing the body
under study into a finite number of pieces (sub domains)
called elements (see Figure).

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 What is Finite Element Analysis?

FEA is a numerical method encountered to solve

engineering problems
 FEM is a numerical method for solving a system of
governing equations over the domain of a continuous
physical system, which is discretized into simple geometric
shapes called finite element.

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 Books- Finite Element Analysis
1. Larry .J. Segerland. Applied Finite Element Analysis,Wiley
India Pvt.Ltd.,2011.
2. Rao. S.S. The Finite element method in Engineering, 5th Ed.,
Pergamon Press, Oxford, 2010.
3. David. V. Hutton, Fundamentals of Finite Element Analysis,
Tata McGraw Hill, 2017.
4. Tirupathi. R. Chandrupatla, Ashok. D. Belegundu. Introduction to
Finite Elements in Engineering’, Pearson Education Limited, 2012.
5. J. N. Reddy. An Introduction to the Finite Element Method, 3rd ed.,
McGraw-Hill Education, 2005
6. Seshu, P, Text Book of Finite Element Analysis, Prentice-Hall of
India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2007

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How Finite Element Analysis?

Discretization

Element Stiffness matrix

Assembly of matrix

Boundary conditions

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 Discretization
Discretization is the process of dividing a region into nodes
and elements

(Node)


(Discretization with 228 Elements)



(Triangular Element)

(Discretization with 912 Elements)

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Node
 Point which meets the model boundary
 Load will act only on nodes
 Node allows load to be transferred from one element to other
Types of node
Primary external
 Secondary external
 Internal node

Primary external Secondary external Internal node

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Element
 A small unit having definite shape is called Element/ Finite element

Types of element
According to co-ordinates
 1D element (Temp. distribution in a rod, flow in a pipe, truss
subjected to axial load)
2D element
 3D element
 According to dof
 Continuous (all 2D, 3D elements)
 Discrete (Truss, beam, frame)
 According to poynomial
 Simplex
 complex
 Multiplex
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Factors to be considered in discretization

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Factors to be considered in discretization….
2. Size of element

 whenever steep gradients of field variable are expected use finer mesh

 Aspect ratio( length/ width)

 if the size of element is small, solution will be more accurate

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Factors to be considered in discretization….
3. Location of nodes
 If the body has no change in geometry, material properties and loading,
the body can be divided equally

 if there are discontinuities, nodes have to be introduced

4. Number of elements

Grid12/11/21
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Factors to be considered in discretization….
5. Simplifying the model
 If the configuration of the body and external conditions are symmetric,
use one half or one fourth for idealization

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 Element Stiffness matrix
u1 u2

F1 F2
1 2
k

Equilibrium at Node 1  F1  ku1  ku 2

Equilibrium at Node 2  F2  ku1  ku2
or in Matrix Form
k  k  u1   F1 
 k    
 k  u2   F2 
[ K ]{u}  {F }
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 Boundary conditions
Restriction imposed on the degrees of freedom

Types

 Essential BC- Displacement constraint

 Natural BC- Force value

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 Solution
Apply the Boundary condition in Assembled equation

Equations can be solved using numerical method

 Equilibrium problem ( Gauss elimination, crout’s
decompostion)
 Eigenvalue problem(Power method, Jacobi
iteration,Gauss seidal)
 propogation problem (kalman filter, lattice boltzman)
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 Applications of Finite Element Method
-

Structural Problem Non-structural Problem

Stress Analysis Heat Transfer
- truss & frame analysis Fluid Mechanics
- stress concentrated problem Electric or Magnetic Potential
Buckling problem
Vibration Analysis
Impact Problem

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 Thank You

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