Applied Mechanics of Solids (A.F. Bower) Chapter 7: Elastic solutions...

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Chapter 7
Introduction to Finite Element Analysis in Solid Mechanics

7.2 A simple Finite Element program

The goal of this section is to provide some insight into the theory and algorithms
that are coded in a finite element program. Here, we will implement only the
simplest possible finite element code: specifically, we will develop a finite
element method to solve a 2D (plane stress or plane strain) static boundary value
problem in linear elasticity, as shown in the picture.
We assume that we are given:
1. The shape of the solid in its unloaded condition
on a portion
or tractions on a portion
2. Boundary conditions, specifying displacements
To simplify the problem, we will make the following assumptions
The solid is an isotropic, linear elastic solid with Youngs modulus E and Poissons ratio ;
Plane strain or plane stress deformation;
The solid is at constant temperature (no thermal strains);
We will neglect body forces.

of the boundary of R

We then wish to find a displacement field

satisfying the usual field equations and boundary conditions (see Sect 5.1.1). The
procedure is based on the principle of minimum potential energy discussed in Section 5.7. There are four steps:
1. A finite element mesh is constructed to interpolate the displacement field
2. The strain energy in each element is calculated in terms of the displacements of each node;
3. The potential energy of tractions acting on the solids boundary is added
4. The displacement field is calculated by minimizing the potential energy.

These steps are discussed in more detail in the sections below.

7.2.1 The finite element mesh and element connectivity

For simplicity, we will assume that the elements are 3 noded triangles, as shown in the picture.
The nodes are numbered 1,2,3N, while the elements are numbered 1,2L. Element
numbers are shown in parentheses.
The position of the ath node is specified by its coordinates
The element connectivity specifies the node numbers attached to each element. For example,
in the picture the connectivity for element 1 is (10,9,2); for element 2 it is (10,2,1), etc.

7.2.2 The global displacement vector

We will approximate the displacement field by interpolating between values at the nodes, as follows. Let
denote the unknown
displacement vector at nodes
. In a finite element code, the displacements for a plane stress or plane strain problem
are normally stored as a column vector like the one shown below:

The unknown displacement components will be determined by minimizing the potential energy of the solid.

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7.2.3 Element interpolation functions

To calculate the potential energy, we need to be able to compute the displacements within each
element. This is done by interpolation. Consider a triangular element, with nodes a, b, c at its corners.
Let
denote the coordinates of the corners. Define the element interpolation functions
(also known as shape functions) as follows

These shape functions are constructed so that

They vary linearly with position within the element
Each shape function has a value of one at one of the nodes, and is zero at the other two.
We then write
One can readily verify that this expression gives the correct values for

at each corner of the triangle.

Of course, the shape functions given are valid only for 3 noded triangular elements
interpolation functions.

other elements have more complicated

7.2.4 Element strains, stresses and strain energy density

We can now compute the strain distribution within the element and hence determine the strain energy density. Since we are solving a
plane strain problem, the only nonzero strains are
. It is convenient to express the results in matrix form, as follows

The factor of 2 multiplying the shear strains in the strain vector has been introduced for convenience. Note that, for linear triangular
elements, the matrix of shape function derivatives
is constant. It depends only on the coordinates of the corners of the element,
and does not vary with position within the element. This is not the case for most elements.
Now, we can compute the strain energy density within the element. Begin by computing the stresses within the element. For plane
strain deformation, have that

For plane stress, the result is

Recall (see Sect 3.1.7) that the strain energy density is related to the stresses and strains by
matrix form as

. This can be written in

where

Now, express these results in terms of the nodal displacements for the element
We can now compute the total strain energy stored within the element. Because
is constant, we merely need to multiply the
strain energy density by the area of the element, which can be computed from the coordinates of its corners as follows

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Hence, the total strain energy of the element is

7.2.5 The element stiffness matrix

The strain energy can be simplified by defining the element stiffness matrix
so that
Observe that, because the material property matrix
note that

is symmetric, the element stiffness matrix is also symmetric. To see this,

7.2.6 The Global stiffness matrix

The total strain energy of the solid may be computed by adding together the strain energy of each
element:

It is more convenient to express W in terms of the vector

which contains all the nodal
displacements, rather than using
for each element to describe the displacements. For
example, the strain energy for the simple 2 element mesh shown is

If we wanted to, we could add the missing terms to each element displacement vector:

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We can now collect together corresponding terms in the two element stiffness matrices to express this as

We can therefore write

where

is known as the Global stiffness matrix. It is the sum of all the element stiffness matrices.

Because the element stiffness matrix is symmetric, the global stiffness matrix must also be symmetric.
To assemble the global stiffness matrix for a plane strain or plane stress mesh with N nodes, we use the following procedure.
Note that for
nodes, there will be
unknown displacement components (2 at each node). Therefore, we start by
setting up storage for a
global stiffness matrix, and set each term in the matrix to zero.
2. Next, begin a loop over the elements.
3. For the current element, assemble the element stiffness matrix
1.

4.

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Add the element stiffness matrix to the global stiffness matrix, using the following procedure. Let a, b, c denote the
numbers of the nodes on the 3 corners of the element. Let
for i=16, j=16 denote the terms in the the
element stiffness matrix. Let
for n=12N, m=12N denote the terms in the global stiffness matrix. Then,

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Here, the symbol += means that the term on the left is incremented by the term on the right, following standard C
syntax.
5. Proceed to the next element.

7.2.7 Boundary loading

We have now found a way to compute the strain energy for a finite element mesh. Next, we
need to compute the boundary term in the potential energy.
Boundary loading will be specified as follows:
1. The element on which the loading acts
2. The face of the element which is loaded
3. The traction vector t (force per unit area) that acts on the face of the element.
The traction is assumed to be constant on the face of any one element.
Now, we compute the contribution to the potential energy due to the traction acting on the
face of one element.
For the element shown, the contribution to the potential energy would be

Recall that the displacements vary linearly within a 3 noded triangle. Therefore, we can write
So, since the tractions are uniform

Abbreviate this as

7.2.8 Global residual force vector

The total contribution to the potential energy due to boundary loading on all element faces is

It is more convenient to express this in terms of the global displacement vector

where

is the global residual force vector.

The global residual force vector for a mesh with N nodes is assembled as follows.

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1.

The residual force vector has length 2N (2 entries per node). Reserve storage for a vector of length 2N and initialize to
zero
2. Loop over elements
3. Determine which face of the element is loaded. Let a, b denote the node numbers attached to this face. Determine the
residual force vector for the element face. Let
, i=14 denote the terms in the element face residual vector. Let ,
n=12N denote the terms in the global residual force vector. Then

7.2.9 Minimizing the Potential Energy

We have set up the following expression for the potential energy of a finite element mesh

Now, minimize V

where we have noted that

Simplify this by noting that

is symmetric

This is a system of 2N simultaneous linear equations for the 2N unknown nodal displacements. Standard computational techniques
such as Gaussian elimination, Cholesky factorization or conjugate gradient methods may be used to solve the system of equations.

7.2.10 Eliminating prescribed displacements

So far, we have seen how to calculate displacements in a finite element mesh which is subjected to prescribed loading. What if
displacements are prescribed instead?
If this is the case, the stiffness matrix and residual are first assembled exactly as described in the preceding section. They are then
modified to enforce the constraint. The procedure is best illustrated using an example. Suppose that the finite element equations after
assembly have the form

To prescribe displacements for any node, we simply replace the equation for the appropriate degrees of freedom with the constraint.
For example, to force
, we could modify the finite element equations to

Thus, the equation for

has been replaced with the constraint

This procedure works, but has the disadvantage that the modified stiffness matrix is no longer symmetric. It is preferable to modify
the stiffness and residual further, to retain symmetry. To do so, we eliminate the constrained degrees of freedom from all rows of the
stiffness matrix. This is best illustrated by example. Suppose our modified stiffness matrix has the form

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Now, we wish to set each entry in the second column (apart from the diagonal) to zero, so that the stiffness is symmetric. Recall that
we can add and subtract equations in the system from one another without affecting the solution. Therefore, to symmetrize the
stiffness matrix in our example, we can subtract appropriate multiples of the second row so as to set each entry in the second column
to zero.

7.2.11 Solution
The result of Sections 7.2.1-7.2.10 is a set of simultaneous linear equations of the form
These can be solved for the unknown displacements using standard techniques (e.g. Gaussian elimination or iterative techniques).
An important feature of the FEM equations is that the stiffness matrix is sparse that is to say, only a small number of entries in the
matrix are non-zero. Consequently, special schemes are used to store and factor the equations, which avoid having to store large
numbers of zeros.

7.2.12 Post-processing
Once the displacements have been computed, the strain in each element can be computed, and so the stress distribution can be
deduced. The procedure is as follows
1. For the element of interest, extract the displacement of each node from the global displacement vector
2. Calculate the strains using the procedure in 7.2.4

3. The stresses can then be determined from the stress-strain equations

where

is defined in 7.2.4.

7.2.13 Example FEA code

A simple implementation of the procedure is provided in the file FEM_conststrain_mws.
The code reads an input file. A very simple input file (with just two elements) can be found
in FEM_conststrain_input.txt.
The data file solves the problem illustrated in the picture. A rectangular block with Youngs
modulus 100 and Poissons ratio 0.3 is meshed with two elements. Node 1 is pinned; node
4 is constrained against horizontal motion, and the right hand face of element 2 is subjected
to a constant horizontal traction with magnitude 10.
The input file is shown below

it should be mostly self-explanatory.

Note that
1. Nodes are numbered sequentially
has coordinates (1,0), etc.
2.

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thus node (1) has coordinates (0,0); node (2)

The element connectivity specifies the node numbers attached to each element,
using a counterclockwise numbering convention. It doesnt matter which node

Material_Props:
Young's_modulus: 100.
Poissons_ratio: 0.3
No._nodes:
4
Nodal_coords:
0.0 0.0

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you use for the first one, as long as all the others are ordered in a
counterclockwise sense around the element. For example, you could use (2,4,1)
instead of (1,2,4) for the connectivity of the first element.
3.

To fix motion of a node, you need to enter the node number, the degree of
freedom that is being constrained, (1 for horizontal, 2 for vertical), and a value
for the prescribed displacement.

4.

To specify tractions acting on an element face, you need to enter (a) the element
number; (b) the face number of the element, and (c,d) the horizontal and vertical
components of traction acting on the face. The face numbering scheme is
determined by the element connectivity, as follows. Face (1) has the first and
second nodes as end points; face (2) has the second and third nodes; and face (3)
has the third and first nodes as end points. Since connectivity for element (2)
was entered as (2,3,4), face 1 of this element has nodes numbered 2 and 3; face
2 connects nodes numbered 3 and 4, while face 3 connects nodes numbered 4
and 1.

1.0 0.0
1.0 1.0
0.0 1.0
No._elements:
2
Element_connectivity:
124
234
No._nodes_with_prescribed_DOFs: 3
Node_#, DOF#, Value:
1 1 0.0
1 2 0.0
4 1 0.0
No._elements_with_prescribed_loads: 1
Element_#, Face_#, Traction_components
2 1 10.0 0.0

To run the code, you need to open the .mws file with Maple, then follow these steps:
1. Edit the code to insert the full path for the input file in the line near the top of the code that reads
> # Change the name of the file below to point to your input file
> infile :=fopen(`insert full path of input file `,READ):
2. Scroll down near the bottom to the line that reads
> # Print nodal displacements, element strains and stresses to a file
>
outfile := fopen(`insert full path of output file``,WRITE):
and enter a name for the output file.
3.

Return to the top of the file, and press <enter> to execute each MAPLE block. If all goes well, you should see that, after
reading the input data, MAPLE plots the mesh (just as a check).

4.

If you continue to the end, you should see a plot of the displaced mesh (red) superimposed on the original mesh (green), as
shown below.

5. Finally, open the output file. It should contain the results shown below
Nodal Displacements:
Node u1
u2
1 0.0000 0.0000
2 .0910 .0000
3 .0910 -.0390
4 0.0000 -.0390
Strains and Stresses
Element e_11
e_22 e_12
s_11
s_22
s_12
1 .0910 -.0390 .0000 10.0000 -.0000 .0000
2 .0910 -.0390 .0000 10.0000 .0000 .0000

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