Finite Element Methods for Engineers Roger T Fenner Department of Mechanical Engineering Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine London @ Imperial College PressPublished by Imperial College Press Sherfield Building, Imperial College London SW7 2AZ Distributed by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. P.O Box 128, Farrer Road, Singapore 912805 USA office: Suite 1B, 1060 Main Street, River Edge, NJ 07661 UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. FINITE ELEMENT METHODS FOR ENGINEERS Copyright © 1996 by Imperial College Press All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher. For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, Massachusetts 01923, USA. First published 1975 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD © Roger T. Fenner 1975 ISBN 1-86094-016-1 This book is printed on acid free paper. Printed in Singapore by Uto-Print.Contents Preface Notation Some Program Variable Names 1 Introduction and Structural Analysis 1. 1.2 13 Computer Programming Structural Analysis Case Study: Bending of a Tapered Beam 2 Continuum Mechanics Problems 21 Continuum Mechanics Equations Some Physical Problems Classification of Partial Differential Equations Methods for Solving Harmonic and Biharmonic Equations 3. Finite Element Analysis of Harmonic Problems 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 35 3.6 3.7 3.8 Derivation of the Element Stiffness Matrix Assembly of the Overall Stiffness Matrix Comparison with the Finite Difference Approach Variational Formulation Boundary Conditions Solution of the Linear Equations Convergence of Finite Element Methods A Computer Program for Harmonic Problems 4 Finite Element Meshes 4.1 Choice of Mesh 4.2 Mesh Data in Numerical Form xv mun 15 20 31 33 37 37 43 45 48 53 55 61 63 7 n T2