Finite Element Analysis for

Mechanical and Aerospace Design

Prof. Nicholas Zabaras

Materials Process Design and Control Laboratory
Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
101 Frank H. T. Rhodes Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-3801

Email: zabaras@cornell.edu
URL: http://mpdc.mae.cornell.edu/

MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design

CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 1
 2D finite element discretization
• The basic idea is to represent the approximate
function vh (e.g. approximate solution uh and
test/weight functions wh) by polynomials defined
piecewise over geometrically simple (triangles,
quadrilaterals, etc) subdomains of the 2D domain Ωh.
• If the domain Ω is curved, we will always have
discretization error since Ωh will not perfectly match
the given domain Ω. However,
with mesh refinement, Ωh → Ω.

MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design

CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 2
 Two-dimensional discretization
• There is a natural correspondence between the
number and location of nodal points in an element and
the number of terms used in the local polynomial
approximation.
– Recall that in 1D for a linear 2-node element, vhe ( x=) a1 + a2 x.
Since the element has 2 nodes, the 2 constants a1 , a2
can uniquely be specified from the nodal values vhe ( x1 ), vhe ( x2 ).
e e +1
– With this approach by requiring the functions hv ( x ) and vh ( x ),

in adjacent elements e and e+1 to share values at the

same node, we produce a continuous function vh ( x).

MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design

CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 3
 Two-dimensional discretization
• What polynomial approximations can we use in 2D?
A triangle with 3 nodes at
vhe ( x, y ) =a1 + a2 x + a3 y
the vertices

A rectangle with 4 nodes at

v ( x, y ) =a1 + a2 x + a3 y + a4 xy
e
h the vertices

vhe ( x, y ) =a1 + a2 x + a3 y A triangle with a node at each

vertex and a node at the middle
+ a4 x 2 + a5 xy + a6 y 2 of each side!

MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design

CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 4
 Global FE basis functions
• Our goal is to construct an interpolant f h ( x ) of a function
f ( x ) in the domain Ω of the following form:
N
=f h ( x, y ) ∑=
f N ( x, y ), N
i =1
i i number of node s in Ω h

• The basis functions N i ( x, y ) are defined such that:

1 if i = j 
=
N i ( x j , y j ) =  δ ij ( Kronec ker delta )
 0 if i ≠ j 
where ( x j , y j ) are the coordinates of the finite element
nodes in the mesh.
• Using this definition of the basis functions, note that
N N
f h ( x=
i ij, yj )
=i 1 =i 1
j j ∑ f N ( x=
,y ) ∑
= fδ i ij fj

MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design

CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 5
 Piecewise-linear interpolation on triangles
• Consider that Ωh consists of E triangular elements and
that we have linear interpolation on each element.
vhe ( x, y ) =a1 + a2 x + a3 y

• The three values of vhe ( x )

at the vertices of Ωe
determine a plane which
intercepts the surface
v(x,y) at 3 points.

MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design

CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 6
 Piecewise-linear interpolation on triangles
vhe ( x, y ) =a1 + a2 x + a3 y

• We determine the 3 constants as follows:

v1 ≡ vhe ( x1 , y1 ) =a1 + a2 x1 + a3 y1 ,
v2 ≡ vhe ( x2 , y2 ) =a1 + a2 x2 + a3 y2 ,
v3 ≡ vhe ( x3 , y3 ) =a1 + a2 x3 + a3 y3 ,

• Solving this system of equations leads to:

1
=
a1 [v1 ( x2 y3 − x3 y2 ) + v2 ( x3 y1 − x1 y3 ) + v3 ( x1 y2 − x2 y1 )]
2 Ae = =
Ae area of triangle
1 1 x1 y1 
=a2 [v1 ( y2 − y3 ) + v2 ( y3 − y1 ) + v3 ( y1 − y2 )]
det 1 x2 y2 
2 Ae 1
2  
1 1 x3 y3 
=a3 [v1 ( x3 − x2 ) + v2 ( x1 − x3 ) + v3 ( x2 − x1 )]
2 Ae

MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design

CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 7
 Piecewise-linear interpolation on triangles
1
v ( x, y ) =a1 + a2 x + a3 y
e =
a1 [v1 ( x2 y3 − x3 y2 ) + v2 ( x3 y1 − x1 y3 ) + v3 ( x1 y2 − x2 y1 )]
h 2 Ae
1
=a2 [v1 ( y2 − y3 ) + v2 ( y3 − y1 ) + v3 ( y1 − y2 )]
2 Ae
1
=a3 [v1 ( x3 − x2 ) + v2 ( x1 − x3 ) + v3 ( x2 − x1 )]
2 Ae

• Substituting the coefficients in the first approximation:

vhe ( x, y ) = v1 N1e ( x, y ) + v2 N 2e ( x, y ) + v3 N 3e ( x, y )

where: N1e =
( x, y )
1
[( x2 y3 − x3 y2 ) + ( y2 − y3 ) x + ( x3 − x2 ) y ]
2 Ae
1
N 2e =
( x, y ) [( x3 y1 − x1 y3 ) + ( y3 − y1 ) x + ( x1 − x3 ) y ]
2 Ae
1
N 3e =
( x, y ) [( x1 y2 − x2 y1 ) + ( y1 − y2 ) x + ( x2 − x1 ) y ]
2 Ae

MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design

CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 8
 Linear shape functions over a triangular element

1
N1e =
( x, y ) [( x2 y3 − x3 y2 ) + ( y2 − y3 ) x + ( x3 − x2 ) y ]
2 Ae
1
N 2e =
( x, y ) [( x3 y1 − x1 y3 ) + ( y3 − y1 ) x + ( x1 − x3 ) y ]
2 Ae
1
N 3e ( x, y )
N 3e =
( x, y ) [( x1 y2 − x2 y1 ) + ( y1 − y2 ) x + ( x2 − x1 ) y ]
2 Ae

• Please note that: N 2e ( x, y )

N ie ( x j , y j ) = δ ij
N1e ( x, y )

vhe ( x) = v1 N1e ( x, y ) + v2 N 2e ( x, y ) + v3 N 3e ( x, y )
MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design
CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 9
Linear shape functions over a 3-node triangular element

• The shape functions for an element e can be

summarized in a `matrix form’ as:
N e =  N1e N 2e N 3e  1
=
N1e e
( x2e y3e − x3e y2e + ( y2e − y3e ) x + ( x3e − x2e ) y )
2A
1
=
N 2e e
( x3e y1e − x1e y3e + ( y3e − y1e ) x + ( x1e − x3e ) y )
2A
1
=
N 3e e
( x1e y2e − x2e y1e + ( y1e − y2e ) x + ( x2e − x1e ) y )
2A

2 Ae = ( x2e y3e − x3e y2e ) − ( x1e y3e − x3e y1e ) + ( x1e y2e − x2e y1e )

• Thus our interpolation formula in matrix form is:

v1e 
 
vhe ( x, y ) = [ N e ] v2e 
 e
v3 

MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design

CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 10
Linear shape functions over a 3-node triangular element

• Differentiation of the interpolation formula produces

the matrix Be that relates the gradient of v ( x) with the e
h

nodal values v , v , v .
e
1
e
2
e
3

 ∂v e   ∂N1e ∂N 2e ∂N 3e  e
 ∂x   ∂x  v1 
 e= e ∂x ∂x   e 
v2
 ∂v   ∂N1 ∂N 2 ∂N 3   e 
e e

 ∂y   ∂y ∂ ∂  v3 
  
y y
 Be 
 

• Note that the matrix Be is constant for 3 node

triangulars (constant `strain triangulars’)
 ∂N1e ∂N 2e ∂N 3e 
 ∂x ∂x ∂x  1  y2e − y3e y3e − y11 y1e − y2e 
= B  =
e
  e 
  ∂N1e ∂N 2e ∂N 3e  2 Ae  x3 − x2
e
x1e − x3e x2e − x1e 
cons tan t
 ∂y ∂y ∂y 
matrix


MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design

CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 11
 Patching together linear basis functions
• What are the global basis
functions Ni , i = 1, 2,.., N that Nie
produce?
N 25 ( x, y )
e
• The basis functions i of N N 1
2
( x, y )

adjacent elements are patched

together to produce a pyramid N 3
( x, y )
1
function Ni at each global node i, N 24 ( x, y )

such that:
N i ( x j , y j ) = δ ij N 6 ( x, y )
• For boundary nodes, the basis
function is a portion of a pyramid!

MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design

CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 12
Pascal’s triangle: Higher order triangle elements
• Triangular elements using higher degree polynomials
can be easily constructed using the so called Pascal’s
triangle:
• A complete polynomial
of degree k in x and y
will have exactly
1
(k + 1)(k + 2) terms.
2
• Thus a polynomial
of degree k can be
determined uniquely by
specifying its value at
1
(k + 1)(k + 2) points on the plane.
2

MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design

CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 13
 Other triangular elements
• Pascal’s triangle implies a symmetric location of nodal
points in triangular elements.
• For example, the 6 terms in
a quadratic polynomial are
determined by specifying
the value of vhe ( x) at 6 nodal
points, one at each vertex
and one at each midpoint
of each side.
• Note that this is precisely
the location of the entries in
the triangle formed by the
quadratic in Pascal’s
triangle!
MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design
CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 14
 Other triangular elements
• How about a cubic polynomial with 10 terms? This will
require a triangle with 10 nodes.
• The location of the nodes is
again determined from the
location of entries in the
Pascal triangle – one at
each vertex, two on each
side dividing each side
intro 3 equal lengths and
one at the centroid.

MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design

CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 15
Triangular elements are continuous over the domain
• These elements produce basis functions that are
continuous over the domain, therefore have square
integrable first derivatives.

• In the figure you see

two neighboring 6-node
triangles. The local
interpolants vhe and
vhe+1 are quadratic
polynomials that
coincide at the 3 nodal
points common to both
elements.
MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design
CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 16
 Rectangular elements
• Various rectangular elements can be produced by tensor
products of polynomials in x and y as shown here.

MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design

CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 17
 Bilinear polynomials
• The tensor produce of monomials (1 x) with the monomials
(1 y) produces the following matrix:

1  1 y
 x [1 y ] 
=
xy 
  x

• A linear combination of the entries in this matrix produces a

local bilinear polynomial approximation.
vhe ( x, y ) =a1 + a2 x + a3 y + a4 xy

• Note that on the site of each of these

elements, vhe ( x) is linear in x or y.
• These shape functions produce basis functions Ni which are
continuous – thus have square integrable 1st derivatives.

MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design

CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 18
 Piece-wise biquadratic basis functions
• The tensor produce of monomials (1 x x2) with the monomials
(1 y y2) produces the following matrix:
1  1 y y2 
   
 x  1 y y 2  =  x xy xy 2 
 x 2   x2 x2 y x 2 y 2 

• A linear combination of the entries in this matrix produces a
local biquadratic polynomial approximation.
vhe ( x, y ) =a1 + a2 x + a3 y + a4 xy + a5 x 2 + a6 y 2 + a7 x 2 y + a8 xy 2 + a9 x 2 y 2

• Note that on the site of each of these

elements, vhe ( x) is quadratic in x or y.
• These shape functions produce basis functions Ni which are
continuous – thus have square integrable 1st derivatives.

MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design

CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 19
 Interpolation error
• We consider interpolation in 2D of a function g(x,y) using
complete polynomials of order k. If the (k+1) order derivatives
of g are bounded in Ωe, the interpolation error is:

|| g − g h ||∞ ,Ωe ≡ max | g ( x, y ) − g h ( x, y ) |≤ chek +1

( x , y )∈Ωe

C is a positive constant and he is the `diameter’ of Ωe (largest

distance between any 2 points in Ωe).
• This error estimate holds only if a complete polynomial of
order k appears in g h .

MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design

CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 20
 Interpolation error
• A similar error estimate can be written for the 1st derivative:

∂g ∂g h ∂g ∂g h
|| − ||∞ ,Ωe ≤ c1hek , || − ||∞ ,Ωe ≤ c2 hek ,
∂x ∂x ∂y ∂y
• We define the H1-norm in 2D as follows:
  ∂g   ∂g  
2 2

|| g ||1 =∫  g +   +   dxdy
2 2

Ω  ∂x   ∂y  
• Assuming no discretization error (Ω h =Ω) and that h is the
maximum diameter of all elements in the mesh, we can show
|| g − g h ||1 ≤ c3h k , for h sufficiently small
• This estimate is only valid if g h contains complete
polynomials of order k.
MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design
CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 21
 Interpolation error
|| g − g h ||1 ≤ c3h k , for h sufficiently small

• Piece-wise linear interpolation on triangles (k=1): The error is

of order O(h).
• Piece-wise bilinear interpolation: The error is still O(h) even if
vhe ( x, y ) =a1 + a2 x + a3 y + a4 xy contains the quadratic term xy. The
key idea here is that ghe contains complete polynomials of
order k=1 but not k=2 (the terms x2 and y2 are missing)!
• For piece-wise biquadratic polynomial approximation
vhe ( x) =a1 + a2 x + a3 y + a4 xy + a5 x 2 + a6 y 2 + a7 x 2 y + a8 xy 2 + a9 x 2 y 2
2
the cubic terms are missing and the error is of the order O ( h )
These approximations have extra terms that allow continuity but do not contribute
to the asymptotic rate of convergence of the interpolation error.

MAE 4700 – FE Analysis for Mechanical & Aerospace Design

CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
N. Zabaras (03/06/2014) 22