By

P.Periasamy, M.E.,

 This

section presents the general procedure of FEA .

The

following two general methods are used in fea.

Force method Displacement or stiffness method.

 Among

this two method, displacement method is more desirable its formulation is simple for most structural analysis problem
vast majority problems are used this method

Because

So

1. 2. 3. 4.

Discritization Numbering of nodes and elements Selection of interpolation function Define material behavior by using strain displacement & stress strain relationship

5. 6.

Derivation of element stiffness matrix Assemble the element equation

Contd

7. 8.
9.
10.

Applying the boundary condition Solution for the unknown displacement

Solve for the Element Strains and Stresses
Interpret the Results

 The

art of subdividing a structure into convenient number of smaller elements Smaller elements are classified as follows,

one dimensional element (bar, beam) Two dimensional element

(Tri angular element, rectangular element)

Three dimensional element (tetrahedral, hexahedral)

One-Dimensional Elements Line Rods, Beams, Trusses, Frames

Two-Dimensional Elements Triangular, Quadrilateral Plates, Shells, 2-D Continua

Three-Dimensional Elements Tetrahedral, Rectangular Prism (Brick) 3-D Continua

One-Dimensional Frame Elements

Two-Dimensional Triangular Elements

Three-Dimensional Brick Elements

 Nodes

& elements should be numbered after discretization process. The numbering process most important since it decide the size of the stiffness matrix . It leads to reduction in memory requirements There are two process are available

Longer side numbering process Shorter side numbering process

 It

involves choosing a displacement function

The

polynomial function are mostly used due to following reason

Its easy to formulate & computerized the finite element equation Its easy to perform differentiation & integration The accuracy of the result can be improved by increasing the order of polynomial

 Strain

displacement & stress-strain relationship are necessary for deriving the equ for each finite element analysis In 1-D, e = du/dx u displacement field variable along x direction e - strain =Ee stress in x direction

 The

finite element equ is in matrix form

In

compact matrix form {F} = [ k ] { u }

the individual element equ obtained & added together. The final assembled or global equ which is in the form of,

{F} = [ k ] { u } {F} global force vector [ k ] global stiffness matrix { u } global displacement vector

 These

eqn can be solved and unknown displacement {u} is calculated

 In

1 D element e = du/dx = u2 u1/ (x2 - x1)

analysis and evolution of the solution results is referred as post processing Computer programs help to user to interpret the results by displaying them in graphical form