ENGR7961 Finite Element Methods

Professor Mark Taylor

2021

4.5

1 x 2-hour lecture weekly
1 x 1-hour tutorial weekly

1 of MATH4701, MATH7701 has been successfully completed

Basic knowledge of vectors, tensors and matrices; differential and partial differential equations; solid mechanics; scientific programming skills. Students undertaking the one year honours programs should check to make sure they have the appropriate background from their undergraduate degree/s.

Fundamental concepts and mathematical background. Variational principles and general procedure of the finite element analysis; standard element shape functions. Formulation of one- and two-dimensional problems. Vector and tensor analysis. Computer program development. Introduction to some advanced finite element modelling, such as mixed and penalty methods; transient problems; isoparametric finite elements; grid generation; adaptive mesh refinement; applications to computational solid and fluid dynamics using software such as MSC Nastran and Ansys.

The topic aims to ensure that the students have a basic understanding of the following:

Variational formulation of boundary value problems
Discretisation of the problem
Choosing basis functions
Assembling the matrix form of the problem
Solving a sparse matrix
Applications of software such as MSC Nastran and Ansys

On completion of this topic you will be expected to be able to:

Understand the fundamental mathematical and physical basis of FEM
Establish FEM models from practical problems and deal with boundary conditions along with external forces
Use computer programs to solve prototype problems using FEM
Describe the limitations of standard FEM for complex systems and anticipate the advanced techniques that can be applied

Key dates and timetable

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