EML 5526

FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

Sections: 18EB, 4456, 4458
Class hour: MWF 6th period (12:50 13:40)
Class room: 201 NEB
Instructor: Nam-Ho Kim
Office: 210 MAE-A
Office hour: MWF 7th period (13:55 14:45)
Phone: 352-575-0665
E-mail: nkim@ufl.edu
http://www.mae.ufl.edu/nkim/

SYLLABUS
Teaching Assistants
TA1
Office: TBD, Phone: TBD
Office hour: TBD, e-mail: TBD

TA2
Office: TBD, Phone: TBD
Office hour: TBD, e-mail: TBD

Textbook:
Concepts and applications of finite element analysis, by Cook, Malkus,
Plesha, and Witt, Wiley, 2002
Required. Available in the University Bookstore

OFFICE HOURS
Period

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

7:25 - 8:15
8:30 - 9:20
9:35 - 10:25
10:40 - 11:30
11:45 - 12:35

Class Prep

Class Prep

Class Prep

12:50 - 1:40

EML5526

EML5526

EML5526

1:55 - 2:45

Office hour

Office hour

Office hour

3:00 - 3:50
4:05 - 4:55

Instructor: 210 MAEA, 352-575-0665, nkim@ufl.edu

TA1: TBD
TA2: TBD
Class website (Sakai): https://lss.at.ufl.edu

GRADES
Homework
Homework problems will be assigned during every lecture, and
students are required to submit homework before starting Wednesday
class of the following week. No late homeworks will be accepted.

Exams
Three, equally contributing exams. Tentative schedules: Feb. 9th
(Exam1), March 20th (Exam2), Apr. 22nd (Exam3)
Quiz: There will be unannounced pop quizzes during the class.

Projects
Two projects in finite element analysis and design using Abaqus.
Formal report is required. All projects should be submitted to Sakai.

GRADES
Grading
Exams (50%), Projects (30%), Homework (15%), Quiz (5%)
A

A-

B+

B-

C+

C-

D+

D-

100

92.9

89.9

86.9

82.9

79.9

76.9

72.9

69.9

66.9

62.9

59.9

93

90

87

83

80

77

73

70

67

63

60

Opportunities for extra credits will be posted on Sakai time to time.

Lectures
Lecture slides will be posted on Sakai 24 hours before the class
Students are responsible to study the lecture before class starts

Rules
Since this is a large class, it would be difficult to accommodate
individual excuses. Therefore, all the rules will be strictly kept
Instead, the lowest 2 grades from HW + quizzes will be dropped in final
grade calculation

Academic Honesty

You have signed a statement of academic honesty

You can discuss HWs and projects with classmates
HWs: each problem must be solved by yourself
Projects
All computer modeling simulation works should be done by yourself
Report must be written by yourself (no copy and past from other
sources)
TA will check electronic version (model file & report)

I will report all honor code violations to Student Conduct and

Conflict Resolution
Mishap during exam: Fail the course
Mishap in submitted projects: Fail the course
Mishap during quiz: One letter grade down
Mishap in submitted HWs: One letter grade down
6

SOFTWARE
We will use a commercial finite element analysis software
called Abaqus for homeworks and projects
Download software from
http://campus.3ds.com/simulia/freese
You will need an image file of your student ID.
You need to install the software in a week

10 tutorials will be provided during the semester

Once a week (Time and classroom will be announced later)

COURSE SCHEDULES
Ch1. Introduction
Ch2. 1D elements and computational procedures
Ch3. Basic elements
Ch4. Variational formulation
Ch5. Galerkin and weighted residual methods
Ch6. Isoparametric elements
Ch7. Isoparametric triangles and tetrahedra
Ch8. Coordinate transformation and analysis options
Ch9. Error, error estimation, and convergence
Ch10. Modeling considerations and software use
Ch11. Dynamics

COURSE SCHEDULES cont.

Wk
1

Date

Lect

Reading

7-Jan

Syllabus and Introduction to FEA

9-Jan

1D system of springs

2.1, 2.2, 2.5, 2.7

12-Jan

Bar element

2.4, 2.6, 2.10

14-Jan

Beam element

2.3

16-Jan

Sparsity, symmetry

2.8, 2.9, 2.11

No class, Martin Luther King Jr. Day

19-Jan
3

Class

21-Jan

Stress-strain review

23-Jan

Stress-strain review

26-Jan

Interpolation, element matrix formulation

3.2, 3.3

28-Jan

Plane elements (CST, LST, Q4, Q8, Q9)

3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7

30-Jan

10

Plane elements

2-Feb

Exam1 review

4-Feb

Exam1

3.1

6-Feb

11

Choice of interpolation, improved elements

3.8, 3.9, 3.10

9-Feb

12

Equivalent nodal forces, stress calculation

3.11, 3.12, 3.13

11-Feb

13

4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4

13-Feb

14

Principle of stationary potential energy

Rayleigh-Ritz method, Strong & weak form, Project 1
discussion

4.5, 4.6, 4.7

COURSE SCHEDULES cont.

Wk
7

10

11

Date

Lect

Class

Reading

16-Feb

15

FE form of R-R method, Convergence

4.8, 4.9

18-Feb

16

Galerkin method, Weighted residual

5.1, 5.2

20-Feb

17

1D Galerkin method, Integration by parts

5.3, 5.4

23-Feb

18

2D Galerkin method

5.5

25-Feb

19

Isoparametric mapping, Quadrilateral element

6.1, 6.2

27-Feb

20

Quadrature, Q8, Q9, Hexahedral element

6.3, 6.4, 6.5

2-Mar

Spring break, No class

4-Mar

Spring break, No class

6-Mar

6.9, 6.10

11-Mar

22

Spring break, No class

Incompatible modes, static condensation, choice of
integration
Distributed load, body force, stress calculation

13-Mar

23

Element shape, mapping, patch test

6.11, 6.12, 6.13

16-Mar

24

Iso-parametric triangles and tetrahedrons

7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4

9-Mar

21

18-Mar

Exam 2 review

20-Mar

Exam 2

6.6, 6.7, 6.8

10

COURSE SCHEDULES cont.

Wk
12

13

Date

Coordinate transformation

8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4

25-Mar

26

Dissimilar element, singularity, reanalysis, quality test

8.5 ~ 8.10

27-Mar

27

Source of error, ill-conditioning, condition number

9.1, 9.2, 9.3

30-Mar

28

Diagonal decay test, residuals, convergence rate

9.4, 9.5, 9.6

1-Apr

29

9.7, 9.8, 9.9

10.2, 10.3, 10.4,
10.5

33

Mesh revision, smoothing, error estimate

Model simplification, element shape, material
properties
Model simplification, element shape, material
properties
Dynamic equation, mass lumping, Project 2
discussion
Natural frequency, modes, damping, model reduction

34

Modal method, Ritz vector, CMS, harmonic response

15-Apr

35

Direct integration, explicit and implicit, stability

17-Apr

36

Make-up class

8-Apr
10-Apr
13-Apr

16

Reading

25

6-Apr

15

Class

23-Mar

3-Apr

14

Lect

30
31
32

20-Apr

Exam 3 review

22-Apr

Exam 3

11.2, 11.3
11.4, 115., 11.6
11.7, 11.8, 11.9,
11.10
11.11 ~ 11.14

11

TIPS FOR A
Be patient and persistent
Read the text repeatedly until you understand it.
If you dont understand it, ask a question until you get answered.

Follow equations
Do not just read the equation.
You must follow all equations by HAND, not EYE.

Try to understand the meaning of equations

If you memorize an equation that you dont understand, you cant solve
the problem. Math is a language.

Follow the instruction carefully

Read carefully what is asked. If A is asked, then answer A not B.
Do not submit a blank answer.
12

Finite Element Method

A bridge between Mechanics of Materials and
real-world applications
Nam-Ho Kim
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611, USA

Point of Departure

Lets say that

you have a cool
idea of a new
motorcycle
design

So, you
decide to build
your own
motorcycle

That means, you

have to decide all
parts, sizes, etc

Design Trade-off

Need to remove
material to have
a good
acceleration

Need to add
material for
safety

Where can I
remove material?
Where should I
have to add
material?

Use Mechanics of Materials!!!

3

Gap

We learned
Mechanics of
Materials, but

How can I use it to

solve real-world
applications?

Torsion

Bending

Mechanics of Materials
Equilibrium at every
point is governed by
differential equation

But, how can I

solve for my
motorcycle?

xx xy

bx 0
x
y

xy yy

by 0

x
y
We know how to solve
it in a simple domain
y

x
5

Finite Element Method

What is the finite element method (FEM)?
A technique for obtaining approximate solutions to boundary value
problems.
Partition of the domain into a set of simple shapes (element)
Approximate the solution using piecewise polynomials within an
element

xx xy
F

bx 0
x
y

xy yy

by 0

Structure
x
y

Piecewise-Linear Approximation

Element

x
6

What Are Elements?

How to discretize the domain?
Using simple shapes (element)

All elements are connected using nodes.

5

1
1

Nodes
Elements

Solution at Element 1 is described using the values at Nodes 1, 2, 6,

and 5 (Interpolation).
Elements 1 and 2 share the solution at Nodes 2 and 6.

Interpolation
Finite element analysis solves for Nodal Solutions.
All others can be calculated (or interpolated) from nodal solutions
u1

u2
N2

N1
x

Displacement within the element

u ( x) a bx u1

u2 u1
Lx
x
x
u1 u2
L
L
L

Strain of the element

u
1
1
( x)
u1 u2
x
L
L

Interpolation (Shape) Function

System of Matrix Equations

How to calculate nodal solutions?
Construct a huge simultaneous system of equations and solve for
nodal solutions.
Different physical problems have different matrices and vectors.

K11
K
21

K n1

K12 K1n u1 F1
K 22 K 2 n u2 F2

K n 2 K nn un Fn

Example: Finite Elements

Plastic Wheel Cover Model
30,595 Nodes, 22,811 Elements
Matrix size is larger than 150,000150,000.
MSC/PATRAN (Graphic user interface)

10

Numerical Models of Engineering Components

A
A
B

A
C

A
A
AB

G
H

A
D

E F
F

D
D
E

C B

E
G

ED B
B
C

F
F

CB
B
A B

D
D

F F

C
D
D
D

D
C

A
B

C
D
C

B
A
A
B
C

C
C

C
C

E
E

11

11

Numerical Models of Engineering Components

~21,000
unknowns

3-d finite element mesh for analysis: head of femur

for 2-day old infant (after T. Ribble)
12

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Initial
Mesh

Mach
Number
contours

Viscous flow past 2-d simulation of the forebody of a

shuttle at Mach 2.
(after Zienkiewicz and Taylor, 1991).

13

Crashworthiness Analysis

Crash of a
SAAB 9000

17h CPU time on

CRAY x-MP/48

(after J. Hallquist)

14

Convergence Study
How do you know the FEM solution is accurate?
Convergence: the finite element solution converges to the
exact solution as the size of elements decreases
u

Exact solution
Two elements
Four elements
Eight elements

uI

Try with at least three

different element sizes
to determine convergence
Number of Elements

15

Element Selection
What element should I have to use?
Element is mathematical representation
Different elements behave differently

16

Finite Element Procedure

Preliminary analysis

Preprocessing
Correction/Refinement

Solving the problem

Postprocessing

Converged?

No

Yes
Stop
17

Modeling Issues
Common mistake: FE model is not a replication of CAD
geometry
Model: Mathematically identical to a purpose
Simplification: delete unimportant small features
separate consideration of small holes

18

Boundary Conditions
Error in boundary conditions will not disappear no matter how
much you refine the model!!
Most assumptions are often made in BC
Need to be careful in interpreting results near the boundary

b
b

(a) Concentrated force

min = 0.973ave
max = 1.027ave

0.25b

0.5b
(b) Distributed forces

min = 0.668ave
max = 1.387ave

min = 0.198ave
max = 2.575ave
19

Example: Automotive Door Panel Stamping

20

Example: Airbag Deployment

21

Forging

22

Example: Vorticity

23

Things to Remember
Finite element method does not solve a problem, but it helps
YOU to solve the problem
It helps you to understand the mechanical system that you
are working on
Garbage inputs, garbage outputs
Try to be an engineer, not a technician

24

QUESTIONS?

25

YouTube Videos
Two vehicle impact NCAC FEA FEM
http://youtu.be/hrfcROMz2II

Downmilling
http://youtu.be/pYCOkIVLA_c

Rolling
http://youtu.be/E1d4WKkbtdY

26