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NUMERICAL METHODS:
The following numerical methods are generally used for solving
engineering problems.- Finite difference method- Finite element
method- Control volume or finite volume Method- Boundary volume
method
Finite difference:- The Scheme expresses the derivatives of the
governing differential equation. In terms of the variables at
the
selected grid points using truncated Taylor series expansion.-
The computational domain is filled up with number of grids and grid
points selected at the centre of the
corresponding grids.
Finite difference scheme has the following disadvantages.
- Specification of boundary conditions for irregular
geometries.- Incorporation of complex material properties.
Finite element method:- It is a popular computer aided numerical
method based on the discretisation of the domain, structure or
continuum into number of elements and obtaining the
solution.Control volume analysis or finite volume method:
- It formulates the discretised equations at each grid point of
the domain by integrating the terms of thedifferential equations
over the control volume and assuming the variation of the unknown
variable betweengrid points. This method is mainly used for fluid
flow problems.
Boundary element method:- It is based on the boundary integral
equation formulation of the problem. It needs only a boundary
discretisation in contrast to domain methods. This method has
not become Popular compared to finitedifference, finite element and
control volume formu1ations.
FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION:
Steps involved for finite element formulation are briefly
discussed below:
1. Discretisation:
o It is the process of dividing the domain, structure or
continuum into sub regions or Sub divisionscalled finite
elements.
o Element having a simple shape with which a domain or body or
structure is discretised.o Nodes are defined for each element, and
nodes are the locations or discrete points at which the
unknown variables are to be determined. These unknown variables
are called field variables as theunknown variable may be
displacement, temperature or velocity depending on the type of
problemunder consideration.
o Collection of elements is called mesh. Elements are connected
at the nodes.
2. Approximation of field variable in an element:
o Polynomial expressions are normally employed to define the
variation of the field variable.o It is easy to differentiate and
integrate the terms in polynomial expressions.
3. Formulation of element equations:
o Element equations will be derived by minimisation of a
function. The function is an integralexpression and minimisation
with respect to nodal variables yields the element equations.
o The formulation of element equations can be accomplished by
using one of the following methods.
Variation formulation using calculus of variation. Weighted
residual methods out of which Galerkins method is extensively
used.
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o For structural mechanics problems, the potential energy
expression written in an integral formprovides the necessary
function.
o Minimisation of potential energy expression with respect to
nodal displacements will yield elementequations which are known as
equations of equilibrium.
4. Principle of minimum potential energy: Among all valid
configurations of a system, those that satisfy theequations of
equilibrium make the potential energy stationary with respect to
small variations of displacement.
5. Assembly of matrices to form global or system equations: The
stiffness matrix and load vector (also calledforce vector) for each
element are formulated. Assembling these matrices for all elements
will give globalstiffness matrix and global load vector to
formulate the global or system equations.
6. Solving the global or system equations will provide the
solution for field variable i.e., displacementsfor a solid or
structural mechanics problem.
7. Secondary quantities like strain and stress can be calculated
once the nodal displacements arc known.
8. The description of finite element method can be given based
ono Displacement formulation. As seen aboveo Equilibrium
method:
In equilibrium method, stress is field variable and displacement
is to be derived fromstress.
o Mixed method: In mixed method, part of the domain is solved
using displacement formulation and
remaining part with equilibrium method.
Solid Bar under Axial LoadOne-Dimensional Fluid Flow
Applications of FEM:
- As stated earlier, the finite element method was developed
originally for the analysis of aircraftstructures. However, the
general nature of its theory makes it applicable to a wide variety
ofboundary value problems in engineering. A boundary value problem
is one in which a solution issought in the domain (or region) of a
body subject to the satisfaction of prescribed boundary
(edge)conditions on the dependent variables or their derivatives.
Table 1.1 gives specific applications of thefinite element method
in the three major categories of boundary value problems,
namely,(i) equilibrium or steady-state or time-independent
problems,(ii) eigenvalue problems, and
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(iii) propagation or transient problems.- In an equilibrium
problem, we need to find the steady-state displacement or stress
distribution if it is
a solid mechanics problem, temperature or heat flux distribution
if it is a heat transfer problem, andpressure or velocity
distribution if it is a fluid mechanics problem.
- In eigenvalue problems also. time will not appear explicitly.
They may be considered as extensionsof equilibrium problems in
which critical values of certain parameters are to be determined
inaddition to the corresponding steady-state configurations. In
these problems, we need to find thenatural frequencies or buckling
loads and mode shapes if it is a solid mechanics or
structuresproblem, stability of laminar flows if it is a fluid
mechanics problem, and resonance characteristics ifit is an
electrical circuit problem.
- The propagation or transient problems are time-dependent
problems. This type of problem arises, forexample, whenever we are
interested in finding the response of a body under time-varying
force inthe area of solid mechanics and under sudden heating or
cooling in the field of heat transfer.
- Mostly the choice of the type of element is dictated by the
geometry of the body and the number ofindependent coordinates
necessary to describe the system.
- If the geometry, material properties, and the field variable
of the problem can be described in termsof only one spatial
coordinate, we can use the one dimensional or line elements
- The temperature distribution in a rod (or fin), the pressure
distribution in a pipe flow. and thedeformation of a bar under
axial load, for example, can be determined using these
elements.Although these elements have cross-sectional area, they
are generally shown schematically as a lineelement.
- For a simple analysis, one-dimensional elements are assumed to
have two nodes, one at each end,with the corresponding value of the
field variable chosen as the unknown (degree of freedom).
- However, for the analysis of beams, the values of the field
variable (transverse displacement) and itsderivative (slope) are
chosen as the unknowns (degrees of freedom) at each node.
- When the configuration and other details of the problem can be
described in terms of twoindependent spatial coordinates, we can
use the two-dimensional elements shown in Figure. Thebasic element
useful for two-dimensional analysis is the triangular element.
- Although a quadrilateral (or its special forms, rectangle and
parallelogram) element can be obtainedby assembling two or four
triangular elements. In some cases the use of quadrilateral (or
rectangle orparallelogram) elements proves to be advantageous.
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- For the bending analysis of plates, multiple degrees of
freedom (transverse displacement and itsderivatives) are used at
each node.
- If the geometry, material properties, and other parameters of
the body can be described by threeindependent spatial coordinates,
we can idealize the body by using the three dimensional
elements.
- The basic three-dimensional element, analogous to the
triangular element in the case of two-dimensional problems, is the
tetrahedron element.In some cases the hexahedron element, which
canbe obtained by assembling five tetrahedrons as indicated in
Figure. can be used advantageously.
- Some problems, which are actually three-dimensional, can be
described by only one or twoindependent coordinates. Such problems
can be idealized by using an axi-symmetric or ring type ofelement.
The problems that possess axial symmetry, such as pistons, storage
tanks, valves, rocketnozzles, and reentry vehicle heat shields,
fall into this category.
Type of Elements:
- If the problem involves the analysis of a truss structure
under a given set of load conditions, the typeof elements to be
used for idealization is obviously the "bar or line elements".
- Similarly, in the case of stress analysis of the short beam.-
The finite element idealization can be done using three-dimensional
solid elements the number of
degrees of freedom needed, the expected accuracy, the ease with
which the necessary equations canbe derived, and the degree to
which the physical structure can be modelled without
approximationwill dictate the choice of the element type to be used
for idealization.
At start finite element analysis relies on two important
functions.- A continuous piecewise smooth function is needed to
prescribe the field variable within the element.- An integral
expression called functional is used to generate clement
equations.- Generally, three kinds of forces which can be
considered to act on a body, namely,
i) body forcesii) surface tractions andiii) point or
concentrated loads.
- We require 15 equations to proceed with the design:1. 6
components of stress,2. 6 components of strain and3. 3 components
of displacement at a point.
- These equations are provided by1. 3 Equilibrium equations,2. 6
stress-strain relations and3. 6 strain-displacement relations.
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f relates to force per unit volume example weight
One Dimensional Problems:
- Elasticity Problems- Heat Conduction Problems are famous 1D
problems
One Dimensional linear element is called as a bar element.One
Dimensional linear element or a bar element has two nodes for every
element.The polynomial below satisfies the variation of field
variable for a bar element.
For every node there is one degree of freedom, so an element
with two nodes will have 2 DOFs.
q are the nodal displacements.Global Coordinate System is
defined for a complete stepped bar.Shape functions are also called
as interpolation functions.
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Derivation of Shape Functions for one dimensional bar
element:
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Displacement Equations using Shape Functions:
Formulation of element matrices:
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- To achieve formulations we need to minimize the potential
energy function with respect to nodaldisplacements.
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For a one dimensional problem:The Strain can be derived from the
equation:
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- It can be inferred that for obtaining strain-displacement
matrix, the expression for strain is essential.- Similarly, for
obtaining material property matrix [D], the expression for stress
is necessary.
LOOK IN TO THE jpeg 1 FOR ENTIRE PROBLEM:
TREATMENT OF BOUNDARY CONDITIONS:
- There are two approaches that can be used for incorporating
boundary conditions in global equations.i) Elimination approachii)
Penalty approach.
Elimination Approach:
This approach was already explained in the previous section and
this method reduces the size of thematrices.
Penalty Approach
This method is based on the concept of considering the support
as a spring having large stiffness so that thedeflection of the
spring is very small. A spring of large stiffness C is included and
nodal displacements ofthe spring are a1 and qi as shown in Fig.
2.7. The spring which is included will contribute to the
strainenergy term in the functional.
when differentiated with respect to q. for the process of
minimisation
Hence, by considering a large stiffness spring to model a
support, one term Cq1 should be added to thestiffness matrix and
another term Ca1 be added to the load vector corresponding to
degree of freedom 1. Thechoice of the value C is Normally, one of
the diagonal terms in the stiffness matrix will bemaximum. If we
consider the stepped bar problem discussed in previous sections,
the penalty approachapplied to model the left fixed support, the
following modifications need to be incorporated. Addition of C
isonly incorporated if the ends are fixed if the bar is fixed at
both ends then the m11 and m33 are added withC.