Chapter 2
Chapter 2
1
INTRODUCTION
• Direct stiffness method is limited for simple 1D problems
• FEM can be applied to many engineering problems that are
governed by a differential equation
• Need systematic approaches to generate FE equations
– Weighted residual method
– Energy method
• Ordinary differential equation (second-order or fourth-order)
can be solved using the weighted residual method, in
particular using Galerkin method
• Principle of minimum potential energy can be used to derive
finite element equations
2
EXACT VS. APPROXIMATE SOLUTION
• Exact solution
– Boundary value problem: differential equation + boundary conditions
– Displacements in a uniaxial bar subject to a distributed force p(x)
Weight function
– If it satisfies for any W(x), then R(x) will approaches zero, and the
approximate solution will approach the exact solution
– Depending on choice of W(x): least square error method, collocation
method, Petrov-Galerkin method, and Galerkin method
4
GALERKIN METHOD
• Approximate solution is a linear combination of trial functions
Trial function
5
GALERKIN METHOD cont.
• Galerkin method cont.
– Integration-by-parts: reduce the order of differentiation in u(x)
– Same order of differentiation for both trial function and approx. solution
– Substitute the approximate solution
6
GALERKIN METHOD cont.
• Galerkin method cont.
– Write in matrix form
7
EXAMPLE1
• Differential equation Trial functions
8
EXAMPLE1 cont.
• Matrix equation
• Approximate solution
9
EXAMPLE2
• Differential equation Trial functions
• Exact solution
10
EXAMPLE2 cont.
• Approximation is good for u(x), but not good for du/dx
11
HIGHER-ORDER DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
• Fourth-order differential equation
12
HIGHER-ORDER DE cont.
• After integration-by-parts twice
13
EXMAPLE
• Fourth-order DE
• Coefficient matrix
14
EXAMPLE cont.
• RHS
• Approximate solution
• Exact solution
15
EXAMPLE cont.
16
FINITE ELEMENT APPROXIMATION
• Domain Discretization
– Weighted residual method is still difficult to obtain the trial functions
that satisfy the essential BC
– FEM is to divide the entire domain into a set of simple sub-domains
(finite element) and share nodes with adjacent elements
– Within a finite element, the solution is approximated in a simple
polynomial form
1D 2D 3D
One element
18
TRIAL SOLUTION
– Solution within an element is approximated using simple polynomials.
19
TRIAL SOLUTION cont.
– Substitute two nodal values
20
TRIAL SOLUTION cont.
• Observations
– Solution u(x) is interpolated using its nodal values ui and ui+1.
– Ni(x) = 1 at node xi, and =0 at node xi+1.
Ni(x) Ni+1(x)
xi xi+1
– The solution is approximated by piecewise linear polynomial and its
gradient is constant within an element.
21
GALERKIN METHOD
• Relation between interpolation functions and trial functions
– 1D problem with linear interpolation
22
EXAMPLE
• Solve using two equal-length elements
23
EXAMPLE cont.
• Derivatives of interpolation functions
• Coefficient matrix
• RHS
24
EXAMPLE cont.
• Matrix equation
Consider it as unknown
• Striking the 1st row and striking the 1st column (BC)
25
EXAMPLE cont.
• Solution comparison
• Approx. solution has about
8% error
• Derivative shows a large
discrepancy
• Approx. derivative is
constant as the solution is
piecewise linear
26
FORMAL PROCEDURE
• Galerkin method is still not general enough for computer code
• Apply Galerkin method to one element (e) at a time
• Introduce a local coordinate
Element e
27
FORMAL PROCEDURE cont.
• Interpolation property
28
FORMAL PROCEDURE cont.
• Change variable from x to ξ
29
FORMAL PROCEDURE cont.
• Need to derive the element-level equation for all elements
• Consider Elements 1 and 2 (connected at Node 2)
• Assembly
Vanished
unknown term
30
FORMAL PROCEDURE cont.
• Assembly of NE elements (ND = NE + 1)
31
EXAMPLE
• Use three equal-length elements
32
EXAMPLE cont.
• RHS cont.
• Assembly
Element 1
Element 2
Element 3
33
EXAMPLE cont.
• Approximate solution
• Exact solution
34
ENERGY METHOD
• Powerful alternative method to obtain FE equations
• Principle of virtual work for a particle
– for a particle in equilibrium the virtual work is identically equal to zero
– Virtual work: work done by the (real) external forces through the virtual
displacements
– Virtual displacement: small arbitrary (imaginary, not real) displacement
that is consistent with the kinematic constraints of the particle
• Force equilibrium
36
PVW cont.
• Integration by parts
37
PVW cont.
• in equilibrium, the sum of external and internal virtual work is
zero for every virtual displacement field
• 3D PVW has the same form with different expressions
• With distributed forces and concentrated forces
38
VARIATION OF A FUNCTION
• Virtual displacements in the previous section can be
considered as a variation of real displacements
• Perturbation of displ u(x) by arbitrary virtual displ δu(x)
• Variation of displacement
Displacement variation
39
PRINCIPLE OF MINIMUM POTENTIAL ENERGY
• Strain energy density of 1D body
40
PMPE cont.
• Potential energy of external forces
– Force F is applied at x = L with corresponding virtual displ δu(L)
– Work done by the force = Fδu(L)
– The potential is reduced by the amount of work
F is constant
virtual displacement
– With distributed forces and concentrated force
• PVW
41
EXAMPLE: PMPE TO DISCRETE SYSTEMS
• Express U and V in terms of u2
displacements, and then F3
1 2 3
differential Π w.r.t displacements
1
• k(1) = 100 N/mm, k(2) = 200 N/mm 3 F3
k(3) = 150 N/mm, F2 = 1,000 N 2 u3
F3 = 500 N u1
42
EXAMPLE cont.
• Strain energy of the system
43
EXAMPLE cont.
• Total potential energy is minimized with respect to the DOFs
44
RAYLEIGH-RITZ METHOD
• PMPE is good for discrete system (exact solution)
• Rayleigh-Ritz method approximates a continuous system as a
discrete system with finite number of DOFs
• Approximate the displacements by a function containing finite
number of coefficients
• Apply PMPE to determine the coefficients that minimizes the
total potential energy
• Assumed displacement (must satisfy the essential BC)
• PMPE
45
EXAMPLE
bx
F
46
EXAMPLE cont.
• PMPE
• Approximate solution
• Axial force
• Reaction force
47