CHAPTER 3: METHODS OF WEIGHTED RESIDUALS

Introduction:
The previous Chapters introduced some of the basic concepts of the finite element
method in terms of the so-called line elements. The linear elastic spring, the bar
element and the flexure element are line elements because structural properties
can be described in terms of a single spatial variable that identifies position along
the longitudinal axis of the element. The displacement-force relations for the line
elements are straightforward, as these relations are readily described using only
the concepts of elementary strength of materials. To extend the method of finite
element analysis to more general situations, particularly nonstructural applications, additional
mathematical techniques are required. In this chapter, the
method of weighted residuals is described in general and Galerkin’s method of
weighted residuals is emphasized as a tool for finite element formulation for
essentially any field problem governed by a differential equation.

METHODS OF WEIGHTED RESIDUALS

A more systemic approach is needed for element formulation when it comes to complicated
and/or multidimensional problems; a method that can be applied on any general engineering
problems. One such method is the weighted residual method.

In this method, a trial solution is firstly found. The trial solution must satisfy the
prescribed boundary conditions of the problem, and not necessarily the natural
boundary conditions. Then, the method uses integral formulation to minimise
averaged error throughout the domain by equating the integral to zero. The
formulation of the integral is such that it is the integral of the residual (resulted
from the trial solution) multiplied by a weighting function (where the product is
just named as weighted residual).

The idea of the method is that: as the residual approaches zero, the trial solution also
approaches the real solution. The different weighted residual methods differ from one
another in the way that the weighted functions were chosen.

3.1 The Galerkin’s Method

The Galerkin’s Method is one of the method of weighted residuals. It chooses its weighting
functions to be the same as its trial functions. To illustrate the approximation process using
the Galerkin’s Method (ref: Textbook 1.10), consider a one-dimensional rod with a region V.
Say the governing equation of the domain is given by:

(3.1)
The governing differential equation (DE) is:

(3.2)

Now, the exact solution must satisfy equation 3.1 at every point .

If our trial solution is , then the error, , which is also known as the residual is given by:

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 (3.3)

The process of approximating is to set the residual relative to a weighting function, , to

zero:

to

(3.4)

As mentioned above, is chosen from the basis function of . If is:

(3.5)

then the arbitrary function of is:

(3.6)

where are arbitrary parameters but are required to satisfy boundary conditions where is

prescribed.

The conclusion of the Galerkin’s Method is that must be found. Then in equation 3.5 is

determined with the condition that equation 3.4 remains satisfied for each . The

determined will give .

Example 3.1
Obtain an approximate solution for the DE below using the Galerkin’s Method.

for values

Given that the boundary conditions are such that: .

Solution:

Since the DE is quadratic, we can start by trying: .

By putting this into Equation 3.3, we will get

The first derivative of the DE is: ;

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Second derivative: (which is not a quadratic and therefore the trial function is

incorrect.)

The residual for the trial function is: (which is non-zero)

Then setting the residual to be zero:

The approximate solution is, therefore: .

Now, let’s compare the found approximate solution with the exact solution:
Integrating the DE twice:

Applying the boundary condition: When x = 0, u = 0, then c2 = 0.

When x = 1, u = 0, then c1 = .

 The exact solution is:

This shows that Galerkin’s Method only gives an approximate solution to the DE. So, how
then do we get closer to the exact solution using the Galerkin’s Method? We use two term
trial functions!

We already have a trial function to start with: .

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The two term trial function now becomes:

First derivative:

Second derivative:

The residual, and setting it to zero for 1 gives:

(3.7)
Setting the residual to be zero for 2 gives:

(3.8)

Solving equations 3.7 and 3.8 simultaneously will give: and .

Now, the approximate solution becomes:

To show that the two-term solution is closer to the exact solution, a graph can be plotted.

From the example above, we can see that we can approximate solution closer to the exact
solution by adding terms. But when do we know when to stop, when do we know that our
approximation is close enough? This issue is termed as convergence.

In real problems, the exact solution is not known. Therefore, a criterion is needed to
determine the accuracy of the approximated solution. In Galerkin’s Method, the criterion is to

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keep adding terms until convergence is achieved. This, however, does not in any way
guarantee that the approximation is converging to the right solution. Thus, this asks for a
check! These checks can be done externally, i.e. equilibrium, energy balance, heat balance,
fluid flow balance.

Since adding terms to the approximate solution is the way to reach convergence, a
systematic approach is needed to aid examining convergence.

By using the previous example, start off by assuming a polynomial function of the solution -

For the first attempt, take only the quadratic form, so: .

Applying boundary conditions:

When x = 0, then Q0 = 0
When x = 1, then Q1 + Q2 = 0, and so Q2 = -Q1.

The trial solution then becomes: .

Now proceed with the second trial: .

Applying boundary conditions:

When x = 0, then Q0 = 0
When x = 1, then Q1 + Q2 + Q3 = 0, and so Q3 = -Q1 – Q2.

The trial solution now becomes: .

Moving on to quartic form, the trial solution is:

Applying boundary conditions:

When x = 0, then Q0 = 0
When x = 1, then Q1 + Q2 + Q3 + Q4 = 0.

The trial solution now becomes: .

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First derivative:

Second derivative:

The residual is:

Setting the residual to be zero for :

(3.9)

Setting the residual to be zero for :

(3.10)

Setting the residual to be zero for :

(3.11)

Solving equations 3.9. 3.10 and 3.11 simultaneously gives:

, , and

The approximate solution with the terms is: .

From the previous exercise, we can now understand that it gets more tedious as more terms
are added to the trial solution. Going forward, we will learn how this method is employed in
the application of FEM, by approximating solution for every element. [Ref: Hutton, Chapter 5]