Nonlinear finite elements

Welcome to this learning project about Nonlinear finite elements!

Learning Project Summary

• Project code:
• Suggested Prerequisites:
  • Linear algebra
  • Partial differential equations
  • Introduction to finite elements
  • Continuum mechanics
• Time investment: 6 months
• Assessment suggestions:
• Portal:Engineering and Technology
• School:Engineering
• Department:Mechanical engineering
• Stream
• Level: First year graduate

Content summary

This is an introductory course on nonlinear finite element analysis of solid mechanics and heat transfer problems. Nonlinearities can be caused by changes in geometry or be due to nonlinear material behavior. Both types of nonlinearities are covered in this course.

Goals

This learning project aims to.

• provide the mathematical foundations of the finite element formulation for engineering applications (solids, heat, fluids).
• expose students to some of the recent trends and research areas in finite elements.

Here's a short quiz to help you find out what you need to brush up on before you dig into the course:

• Assessment Quiz

Contents

Syllabus and Learning Materials

1. Mathematical Preliminaries
   1. Set notation
   2. Functions
   3. Vectors
   4. Matrices
   5. Tensors
   6. Partial differential equations
   7. Variational calculus
2. Linear finite element basics
   1. An example: Axially loaded bar
      • Strong form: governing differential equation
      • Weak form: integral equation
      • Approximate solution: Galerkin method
      • Approximate solution: Finite element method
   2. More examples: Some model problems
      • Weak form: Weighted residual methods
      • Choosing a weight function
      • Bubnov Galerkin methods
      • Finite element basis functions
      • Example of a finite element approximation
   3. A time-dependent problem: the heat equation
      • Steady state heat conduction
      • Weak form of the steady state heat equation
      • Weak form of the time-dependent heat equation
      • Finite element approximation of Poisson equation
      • Finite element approximation of the heat equation
      • Time integration of the heat equation.
3. Nonlinear finite element basics
   1. Nonlinearities in solid mechanics
   2. An example: Nonlinear deformation of an axially loaded bar
      • Weak form for the nonlinear bar
      • The Newton-Raphson method
      • The Newton method applied to finite elements
      • The Newton method applied to the axially loaded bar
   3. Lagrangian and Eulerian descriptions of motion
   4. Lagrangian finite elements
      • Motion from the Lagrangian point of view
      • Total Lagrangian approach
      • Updated Lagrangian approach
      • An example: Effect of mesh distortion
   5. Solution procedure
   6. Special case: Natural vibrations
4. Nonlinear deformation of beams
5. Nonlinear deformation of plates and shells
   1. Basic linear plate and shell elements
   2. Nonlinear plates and shells
   3. Time-dependent deformation of shells
6. Nonlinear material behaviors
   1. Material nonlinearities
   2. Objective rates
   3. Nonlinear Elasticity
   4. Plasticity
   5. Viscoplasticity
   6. Viscoelasticity.
7. Verification and Validation.

Readings and other resources

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Textbooks

• An Introduction to Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis by J. N. Reddy, Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 019852529X.
• Nonlinear Finite Elements for Continua and Structures by T. Belytschko, W. K. Liu, and B. Moran, John Wiley and Sons, 2000.
• Computational Inelasticity by J. C. Simo and T. J. R. Hughes, Springer, 1998.
• The Finite Element Method: Linear Static and Dynamic Finite Element Analysis by T. J. R. Hughes, Dover Publications, 2000.

References

• Finite Element Analysis:
  • K-J. Bathe (1996), Finite Element Procedures, Prentice-Hall. Useful repository of information on nonlinear finite elements.
  • J. N. Reddy (1993), An Introduction to the Finite Element Method, McGraw-Hill. This book is referred to a number of times in one of the texts.
  • O. C. Zienkiewicz and R. L. Taylor (2000), The Finite Element Method: Volume 2 Solid Mechanics, Butterworth-Heinemann. Another excellent repository of information of nonlinear finite elements geared toward the Civil Engineers.
• Continuum Mechanics:
  • R. M. Brannon (2004), Large Deformation Kinematics. An excellent introduction to kinematics.
  • R. M. Brannon (2004), Rotation. Almost everything you ever wanted to know about rotations.
  • A.J.M Spencer (2004), Continuum Mechanics, Dover Publications. An excellent introduction to continuum mechanics. You should own a copy for your personal library.
  • L.E. Malvern (1969), Introduction to the Mechanics of a Continuous Medium, Prentice-Hall. A good reference for continuum mechanics.
• Mathematics:
  • R. M. Brannon (2004), Elementary Vector and Tensor Analysis for Engineers. This free online book is the best introduction I have seen for vector and tensor analysis for nonlinear mechanics.
  • R. M. Brannon (2004), Curvilinear Coordinates. Very useful if you wish to follow the literature on the nonlinear deformation of shells.
  • B. Daya Reddy (1998), Introductory Functional Analysis: With applications to boundary value problems and finite elements. , Springer-Verlag. Excellent book for engineers who want to understand the terminology used in the finite element literature and how error analysis is done.
  • A.P.S. Selvadurai (2000), Partial Differential Equations in Mechanics 1,2. Springer. Excellent introductory text on partial differential equations with engineers in mind.

Reading List

Each project/lesson/activity may have a suggested reading selection, eg:

• Wikipedia article:
• Wikibooks textbook:
• etc.

Lessons

• Lesson 1: ...

Activities

• Activity 1.
• etc.

Tests and Quizzes

• Quiz 1
• Quiz 2
• Test 1
• etc.

Subpages

Subpages can be created - like /concepts (for concepts involved in this learning project)

Active participants

Active participants in this Learning Group

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