Session -2

Introduction to basics of FEM

Subject Code: 19STC502A-2021

Module Leader: Dr. H M Rajashekhar Swamy

Delivered by: Dr. H M Rajashekhar Swamy

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 Session 2a Intended Learning Outcomes
At the end of this session, student will be able to:
– Explain concepts of finite element method and interpolation
functions
– Describe the process of discretization and the factors affecting it
– Describe the methods of storage of stiffness matrix
– Discuss different types of finite elements used for 1D, 2D and 3D
cases
– Derive different coordinates used in FEM

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 Steps in FEM
1. Discretization & Selection of elements
Idealize the structure and establish global
axes, number the nodes, identify the type of
members (that is truss element, beam
element or boundary element. Number the
members in each category), Compile the basic
data: nodal co-ordinates ,material and
member geometrical properties, member
connectivity (I and j nodes)
2. Element stiffness matrix
• Selection of displacement function
• Define strain displacement relationship
• Defining stress strain relationship
• The Development or derivation of element
stiffness matrix
Steps involved in Direct Stiffness
Method are
1.Discretization & Selection of
elements
Idealize the structure and establish global
axes, number the nodes, identify the type
of members (that is truss element, beam
element or boundary element. Number
the members in each category), Compile
the basic data: nodal co-ordinates
,material and member geometrical
properties, member connectivity (I and j
nodes)
2.Calculate element stiffness matrix
in local co-ordinates Km, get global
member stiffness and member load
vector

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3. Assemble the structural stiffness
matrix and structural load vector
4. Introduce boundary condition to
eliminate rigid body d.o.f. and
take care of specified
displacement ,if any.
5. Solve the system of linear
simultaneous equation and get
the unknown nodal displacement
6. Computation of derived variables
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3. Assemble the structural stiffness
matrix and structural load vector
4. Introduce boundary condition to
eliminate rigid body d.o.f. and take
care of specified displacement ,if
any.
5. Solve the system of linear
simultaneous equation and get the
unknown nodal displacement
6. Extract element end displacement
and transform into local co-
ordinates
7. Solve for member end forces
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 Steps in FEM (contd.)

1. Discretization & Selection of elements

a.The First step in finite element method is to divide the structure or
solution region or domain into equivalent system of finite element
with associated nodes
b.The number, type, size and arrangement of elements is done
appropriately to model most closely the actual physical behavior of the
structure or domain
c.The element must be made small enough to give usable results &
large enough to reduce computational effort

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 Steps in FEM (contd.)
2. Selection of displacement function
a.Since displacement in a structure cannot be predicted exactly we
assume suitable solution with in an element to approximate the
unknown solution.
b.Within an element Displacement function is defined using nodal
values of the element.
c.The same general displacement function can be assumed for each
element.

U1 U2

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 Steps in FEM (contd.)
u=f(x,U1 , U2 ) -----------------1
Assume a function for u, say u= a+bx
with the boundary condition u=U1 @ x=0 --------2a
u=U2 @ x=l -------- 2b

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 Steps in FEM (contd.)
From 1 and 2a we get U1 =a + b*0 a=U1
From 1 and 2b we get U2=a + b*l b= (U2 – U1)
 (U 2 – U 1 )  l
Therefore u = U1 +  l
 x
 

u=[N] where [N] =

Hence, finite element method is one in which a continuous quantity

(Displacement in structural mechanics problem) throughout body is
approximated by a discrete model composed of a set of peace wise-
continuous function defined within each element in the domain.

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 Steps in FEM (contd.)
3. Define strain displacement relationship
In this step, the strain displacement relationship is evolved for an element
.
{ϵ} = [B] {
Where {ϵ} = strain vector
[B] = strain displacement matrix
{u} = displacement vector
du
  1  U1 
dx    1 1 
d   U1 
l U 2 
=  N   
 U1 
dx  U 2     B   
d   U1  U 2 
  N  
dx  U
 2 
d  x x  U1 
  1     
dx   l l U 2 

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 Steps in FEM (contd.)
4. Defining stress strain relationship
In this step , the relation b/w stress & strain is assumed depending on the
material
{σ} = [c] {ϵ}
Where , [C] is constitution matrix

For example

= [C]

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 Steps in FEM (contd.)
5. The Development or derivation of element stiffness matrix
 If finite element method is applied for a normal structural domain,
the matrix correspond to element stiffness matrix .
 The derivation of element stiffness matrix can be done by any one of
the owing method depending on the element type & the field problem
[K] =[T]t [k*][T] for skeletal structure
Or
[K] = [B]t [C] [B] for non-skeletal structures(WE ARE YET TO PROVE THIS)

The different methods of finding stiffness matrix are as follows.

i.Direct method
ii.Variational approach
iii.Weighted residual approach

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 Steps in FEM (contd.)

6. Assembly of element equation to obtain global equation and

implementation of boundary condition:

In this step the global stiffness matrix[K], global force vector {F}, & global
displacement vector {u} or related to each other in the form
{F] = [K] {U}.

Vector {F} & {u} may contain known & unknown values.

The global stiffness matrix [K] is a singular matrix because its

determinant is zero. To remove thos singularity problem, we must
invoke certain boundary conditions so that structure remains in place
without undergoing rigid body motion.

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 Discretization
• The First step in finite element method is to divide the structure or
solution region or domain into equivalent system of finite element
with associated nodes.
• The number, type, size and arrangement of elements is done
appropriately to model most closely the actual physical behavior of
the structure or domain.
• The element must be made small enough to give usable results &
large enough to reduce computational effort.
• Small elements (and possibly higher-order elements) are generally
desirable where the results are changing rapidly, such as where
changes in geometry occur, whereas large elements can be used
where results are relatively constant

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 Discretization (Contd.)
• What general sorts of elements should be used—beam, plane, shell,
or solid?
• If plane, should elements be triangular or quadrilateral?
• With or without side nodes?
• How many elements, and
• How should the mesh be graded?
Such questions arise as we begin to discretize the mathematical model.
To answer these types of questions, we must understand how the
structure (or its mathematical model) is likely to behave and how
elements are able to behave.
We must recall that the essence of the FE method is piecewise
polynomial interpolation. “An element can represent a field variation
no more complicated than the interpolation contained in its
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 Discretization (Contd.)
• Mathematical modeling, or idealization, is a process by which an
engineer or scientist passes from the actual physical system under
study, to a mathematical model of the system.
• The process is called idealization because the mathematical model is
necessarily an abstraction of the physical reality
 Factors to be considered in discretization
The shapes, sizes, number and configuration of elements have to be
chosen carefully such that the original body or domain is simulated
without increasing the computational effort needed for solution. The
various considerations to be taken in discretization are:
• Type of element
• Size of element
• Shape of element
• Number of element
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 Type of element

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 Size of element: The accuracy of FEA increases with the decrease in element size,
however the used of smaller sized elements means more computational effort
depending upon the field variable, the size of element can also be varied.

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 Shape of element
The aspect ratio is defined as the ratio of the longest dimension to the
shortest dimension of a quadrilateral element. In many cases, as the
aspect ratio increases, the inaccuracy of the solution increases.
• For two dimensional or three dimensional elements, aspect ratio
should be nearly 1.
•The angle between two sides of an element should always be kept
less than 170 degrees

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 Number of element:
• The number of elements to be chosen for idealization is related to
the accuracy, required size of elements and the number of degrees of
freedom involved.
• Although the increase in number of elements generally means more
accurate results, for any given problem, there will be certain number of
elements beyond which accuracy cannot be improved by significant
amount.

Exact solution
Solution value

Number of elements
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 Nodes:
• If there are no abrupt changes in geometric properties, material
properties & external changes like load, temp etc., the body can be
divided into subdivision of same size & shape which results in uniform
spacing of nodes.
• If there are any discontinuities nodes have to be introduced at these
locations.
• The nodes are located at
(i) geometric discontinuity
(ii) discontinuity of loads
(iii) discontinuity of materials
(iv) discontinuity of boundary conditions

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 i) Geometric discontinuity:
It occurs when ever there is sudden changes in shape of the structure or
in its alignment. At these discontinuities nodes or line of nodes should
introduced.

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 D
200KN
C/S area 200 mm2
C/S area 100 mm2

4m
200 mm 400 mm
B
A
C

3m
3m

50kN 20kN/m

3m 2m 4m

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 (ii) Discontinuity of loads:
these Discontinuities occur due to presence of concentrated loads or due
to changes in the intensity of loads

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 (iii) discontinuity of materials:
When ever two materials of different properties (say diff young's
modulus) or used in a structure there should be nodes at the junction

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 (iv) discontinuity of boundary conditions:
If there is any change in the boundry condition ( alignment or
supporting condition)nodes have to be introduced.

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 Different types of co-ordinates

Co-ordinates have different meaning & purpose depending on the

application or discipline.
1.Generalized co-ordinates- The number of independent translation &
rotation that exist in a structure are called as degrees of freedom or
Kinematic indeterminacy or generalized co-ordinates.
2.Co-ordinates of a point with respect to reference axis.
3.Global co-ordinates: The co-ordinate system used to define points in the
entire structure are called as global co-ordinates and the reference axes
are called as global reference axes (OR) The degrees of freedom which are
numbered for the whole structure are called global co-ordinates.
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 • Local co-ordinates- The degrees of freedom in an element with respect
to local axes of that element are called as local co-ordinates or local
degrees of freedom
• (OR)
• For convenience, to derive element properties in FEM, many times a
separate co-ordinate system is used for each element. In this system
the points in an element are defined with respect to local reference
axes.
Local co-ordinate system in FEM
Types of local co-ordinates
1.Cartesian coordinates
2.The natural coordinate
3.Normal natural coordinates
4.Area coordinates
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 1. Cartesian coordinates
y

(0,0) (0,ℓ) x

N1 = = (l-x)/l

N2 = =(x-0)/l =x/l

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 2. Natural Co-ordinates
The natural co-ordinates system Is a local co-ordinates system which
permits the specification of a points with in an element by a set of
(L1,L2)dimensionless number whose magnitude near exceeds one.

1 2 x-axis

P (L1 , L2 )
x1 , 0 x2 , 0

=
L1+L2=1
=
X=L1 X1+ L2 X2
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Example: Find the natural co-ordinate for a point p as shown in fig

0.4 m
P

1.5 m

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 3. Simple natural co-ordinate Or Normal co-ordinate
In this type of natural co-ordinate varies from-1 to +1 It is called as
normalized co-ordinate because it is expressed as dimension less
number varying from -1 to +1 from the centre of the element &
normalized with half the length of the element

XC = (X1 + X2 ) /2

1 (x1 , 0) P 2 (x2 , 0)
x-axis
  1  0  1
c


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 l/2 l/2

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 3(X3 , Y3 )
Area Co-ordinates

P(X , Y) 2(X2 , Y2 )

1(X1 , Y1 )

A1 3(X3 , Y3 )
L1 
A A1
A2
L2  A2 P(L1,L2,L3) 2(X2 , Y2 )
A A3
A3
L3  1(X1 , Y1 )
A
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 Applying Cramers rule

(x3 ,y3)

(x2 ,y2)

x,y

= 2A1
L1 =
2A

(x1 ,y1)

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 (x3 ,y3)

(x2 ,y2)

x,y

= 2A2
L2=
2A

(x1 ,y1)

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 (x3 ,y3)

(x2 ,y2)

x,y

= 2A2
L2=
2A

(x1 ,y1)

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 Find the shape functions at the point P (6, 9) for a triangular element as shown in figure 1

(8, 12)

(4, 8)
(10, 5)

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Derive area coordinates of the point (6,9) in the triangular element Figure 2

3 (3, 16)

2 (8, 8)

1 (5,4)

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Derive area coordinates of the point (12,7) in the triangular element

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 Interpolation function
• The basic idea of finite element method is piece wise approximation
• The solution to a complicated problem is obtained by dividing the region of
interest into small regions (finite elements) and approximating solutions over
each sub divisions or finite elements
• The system equations for any system are
[K] nxn{u} nx1 = {p}nx1-------------1
The global characteristics matrix [K] is assembled from [K]e of each element
Which are given by
[K]e = [T]t [K] [T] ------------------(2a) skeletal structure
Or
[K]e = [B]t [e] [B]-------------------(2b) non skeletal structure
Where [B] is strain displacement matrix

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 If u is displacement inside an element then it is approximated by a
function f(x)
And f(x) is called as interpolation function
u= f(x) --------------------3
Equation (3) can be re written as
U1 
u  N  x  
U 2  Since f(x) is an approximation then [B] also
is an approximation and therefore the
But element stiffness matrix obtained also an
d  N  x  U1 
approximation.
u   Therefore the results of finite element
dx U 2 
analysis very much depend upon function
U1 
u   B   f(x) which is used to represent the behavior
U 2  of the solution with in an element and Is
called interpolation function or
interpolation model
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 Usually the interpolation functions used are polynominal function
because of following reasons:
1)It is easier to differentiate or integrate polynominals therefore
formulation of the stiffness matrix & the Computations there after will
be easier.
2)Accuracy can be in creased by increasing the order of the
polynomial(The power of x).

If ‘u’ is a field variables ( may be displacement) the polynomial

interpolation
Can be written as

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 53
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 54
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 Simplex, Complex and Multiplex elements:
Depending on geometry and order of interpolation polynomial the element in
FEM may be categorized as Simplex, Complex & Multiplex element.
Simplex element
Simplex element is one which is having constant and linear terms in the
interpolating polynomial i.e for a one dimensional element

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 • The number of nodes required to define a simplex element are n+1
where n is the dimension of the space in which the element is defined
line element

Complex elements
Complex elements are same as that of simplex elements but have
nodes along the boundaries & may have internal nodes. The
interpolating polynomial has higher order terms {quadratic & above}
in addition to constant and linear terms.

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 Figure 1: Examples of complex elements 57
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 Multiplex element
Multiplex elements are those who boundaries are parallel to the
reference axes to maintain inter element continuity of field variables
and dependent function the polynomial which is used as interpolation
function will have constant term & linear term & may have higher
order terms.

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 Y u2
2
v2

u3

v3 *
3 x2

u1 u4 *
X d
* ,
2

1 v1 4 v4 f 2

*
y2
Global reference axes and ℓ
global co-ordinates
*
* d 1
f1,

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 Node numbering and stiffness matrix
Properties of stiffness matrix:
1. The stiffness matrix is symmetric
2. The diagonal element or definite possitive i.e always greater than zero
3. The matrix is having diagonal dominance (diagonal elements are bigger
in magnitude compared to of diagonal element). This helps in
solving process as there is no need to rearrange equation to get
diagonal dominance.
4. A matrix is banded if the nonzero terms of the matrix are gathered
about the main diagonal. The stiffness matrix is having banded nature
i.e., non zero element stiffness matrix are concentrated near the
diagonal.

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• Because a meaningful analysis generally requires the use of a large number of
variables, the implementation of compressed storage of the stiffness matrix is
desirable both from the standpoint of fitting into memory (immediate access
portion of the computer) and for computational efficiency.
• The banded-symmetric format, which is not necessarily the most efficient
format but is relatively simple to implement on the computer.

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 • The band width of the overall or global characteristic matrix depends
on node numbering scheme & the number of degree of freedom per
node If we can minimize the band width, the storage requirements as
well as solution.
• The band width nb (semiband width)
=(maximum difference b/w degree of freedom at the ends of any
member)+1
= (m+1)ndof
Where,
m is maximum of difference in the node number occurring for the
element
ndof is no of degrees of freedom per node or nodal degree of freedom

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 • Execution time is a function of the number of equation to be solved.
• When stiffness matrix is not banded, the execution time,

1 3
TUB  n (when K is not banded)
3
where, n is no of equation to be solved or no of degrees of
freedom.

• The execution time when banded storage of stiffness matrix K is used.

TB  n  n B 
2
Where, nB is band width

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 By dividing TB by TUB we get

2
n 
TB  3 TUB  
 nUB 
Example:Find the band width for different node numbering schemes for
a two dimensional lamina of square shape as shown in figure

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 Sky line method of storage
• Another method, based on the concept of the skyline of the stiffness
matrix, is often used to improve the efficiency in solving the equations.
• The skyline is an envelope that begins with the first nonzero coefficient in
each column of the stiffness matrix (Figure B–5).
• In sky lining, only the coefficients between the main diagonal and the
skyline are stored (normally by successive columns) in a one-dimensional
array.
• In general, this procedure takes even less storage space in the computer
and is more efficient in terms of equation solving than the conventional
banded format

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 66
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 Summary
• Steps in FEM include:
1. Discretization & Selection of elements
2. Selection of displacement function
3. Define strain displacement relationship
4. Defining stress strain relationship
5. The Development or derivation of element stiffness matrix
6. Assembly of element equation to obtain global equation and implementation of
boundary condition.
7. Solving for global displacements
8. Computation of derived variables
• The various considerations to be taken in discretization are:
Type of element
Size of element
Shape of element
Number of element
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