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1. BASICS OF FINITE 2. STRESSES AND FAILURE

ELEMENT ANALYSIS CRITERIA

FINITE ELEMENT
MODELING IN STRUCTURAL
ENGINEERING

3. FINITE ELEMENT 4. ANALYSIS AND DESIGN

MODELING USING
FUNDAMENTALS SOFTWARE

Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

1 B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
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Concept of Stress
Basics of Finite Element

Stresses and Failure Criteria

Principal Stresses

Introduction
Analysis

Stresses in Beams

General Description of the

FEM and steps of FEA Plane Stress

Plane Strain

Plates & Shells

Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

2 B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
 Modeling 7/4/2019
Considerations

Types of Finite
Elements

Selection of Element
Finite Element Modeling

Types
Fundamentals

Modeling Guidelines

Application of
Boundary Conditions

Application of Loads

Stiff and Rigid

Structural Parts

Recommendations for
Evaluating Stresses
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3 B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
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1. Basics of Finite Element Analysis

1.1 Introduction

Virtually every phenomenon in nature, whether biological, geological, or mechanical, can be described with
the aid of the laws of physics, in terms of algebraic, differential, or integral equations relating various
quantities of interest. Most engineers and scientists studying physical phenomena are involved with two
major tasks:

 Mathematical formulation of the physical process

Requires background in related subjects ( laws of physics) and most often certain mathematical tools.
Development of the mathematical model of a process is achieved through assumptions concerning
how the process works.

 Numerical analysis of the mathematical model

In a numerical simulation, we use a numerical method and a computer to evaluate the mathematical
model and estimate the characteristics of the process. While the derivation of the governing equations
for most problems is not unduly difficult, their solution by exact methods of analysis is a formidable
task.

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4 B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
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The finite element method (FEM), sometimes referred to as finite element analysis (FEA), is a computational
technique used to obtain approximate solutions of boundary value problem in engineering. Simply stated, a
boundary value problem is a mathematical problem in which one or more dependent variables must satisfy a
differential equation everywhere within a known domain of independent variables and satisfy specific conditions
on the boundary of the domain.
The term ‘finite element’ was coined in relation to the analysis of aircraft structures (Turner et al.1956) and the
first published finite element stiffness matrix was by Argyris (1954).

1.2 General Description of the FEM and steps of FEA

The general techniques and terminology of finite element method can be introduced as follows;

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A general procedure for finite element analysis

Preprocessing

Solution

Post processing

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B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
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B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
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B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
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B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
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B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
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B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
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B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
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B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
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B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
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Example 01

Consider the two element system as described before where node 1 is attached to a fixed support, yielding the
displacement constraint U1 = 0, k1 = 9 kN/m, k2 = 13.5 kN/m, F2=F3=0.5 kN. Determine nodal displacements U2
and U3.

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Example 02

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As more and more smaller elements are used in the model, the values of such discontinuities decrease, indicating
solution convergence. In structural analyses, the finite element user is most often more interested in stresses than
displacements, hence it is essential that convergence of the secondary variable be monitored.

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Example 03

The simply supported beam shown in Figure below is subjected to a uniform transverse load, as shown. Using
two equal-length elements and work-equivalent nodal loads, obtain a finite element solution for the deflection at
midspan and compare it to the solution given by elementary beam theory.

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