Chapter - 2

Fundamentals for Finite Element

Method
TYPES OF ANALYSIS
- Structural Analysis
- Modal Analysis
- Transient Analysis
- Thermal Analysis
- Transient Thermal Analysis
Fundamental Concepts
Finite element equation,
Coordinate system
The following terms are commonly referred in FEM,
(i) Global coordinates
(ii) Local coordinates and
(iii) Natural coordinates.

(i) Global coordinates

The coordinate system used to define the points in the entire structure is called
global coordinate system.
(ii) Local coordinates
For the convenience of deriving element properties, in FEM
many times for each element a separate coordinate system is
used. For example, for typical elements shown in Fig. 1, the local
coordinates may be as shown in Fig.2. However the final
equations are to be formed in the common coordinate system i.e.
global coordinate system only.
(iii) Natural coordinates
A natural coordinate system is a coordinate system which permits
the specification of a point within the element by a set of
dimensionless numbers, whose magnitude never exceeds unity. It is
obtained by assigning weightages to the nodal coordinates in
defining the coordinate of any point inside the element. Hence such
system has the property that ith coordinate has unit value at node i
of the element and zero value at all other nodes.
FEM Approach
a. Force (flexibility) method: internal forces as unknowns.
b. Displacement (stiffness) method: nodal disp. As
unknowns.

For computational purpose, the displacement method is more

desirable because its formulation is simple.

A vast majority of general purpose FE software's have

incorporated the displacement method for solving structural
problems.
Basic Steps in Finite Element Analysis
Discretization of the continuum

Identification of variables

Formation of the element stiffness matrix

Formation of global stiffness matrix

Formation of element load vector

Formation of the overall loading matrix

Introduce boundary conditions

Solution of simultaneous equations

Calculation of stresses or stress-resultants

1. Discretization of the continuum:
The continuum is divided into a number of elements by
imaginary lines or surfaces. The interconnected elements may
have different sizes and shapes.

2. Identification of variables:
The elements are assumed to be connected at their
intersecting points referred to as nodal points. At each node,
unknown displacements are to be prescribed.

3. Formation of the element stiffness matrix:

After continuum is discretized with desired element
shapes, the individual element stiffness matrix is formulated.
4. Formation of global stiffness matrix:
After the element stiffness matrices in global coordinates are
formed, they are assembled to form the overall stiffness matrix. The
assembly is done through the nodes which are common to adjacent
elements. The overall stiffness matrix is symmetric and banded.

5. Formation of element load vector:

The loading forms an essential parameter in any structural
engineering problem. The loading inside an element is transferred at
the nodal points and consistent element matrix is formed.

6. Formation of the overall loading matrix:

Like the overall stiffness matrix, the element loading matrices are
assembled to form the overall loading matrix. This matrix has one
column per loading case and it is either a column vector or a
rectangular matrix depending on the number of loading cases.
7. Incorporation of boundary conditions:
The boundary restraint conditions are to be imposed in the
stiffness matrix. There are various techniques available to satisfy the
boundary conditions. One is the size of the stiffness matrix may be
reduced or condensed in its final form. To ease computer
programming aspect and to elegantly incorporate the boundary
conditions, the size of overall matrix is kept the same.

8. Solution of simultaneous equations:

The unknown nodal displacements are calculated by the
multiplication of force vector with the inverse of stiffness matrix.
9. Calculation of stresses or stress-resultants:
Nodal displacements are utilized for the calculation of stresses or
stress-resultants. This may be done for all elements of the continuum
or it may be limited to some predetermined elements. Results may
also be obtained by graphical means. It may desirable to plot the
contours of the deformed shape of the continuum.
Basic Steps in Finite Element Analysis
Construct the finite element model
a. Discretize and select the element types
(a) element type
1D line element
2D element
3D brick element
(b) total number of element (mesh)
1D:
2D:
3D:
Shape Function
✓ In the finite element analysis aim is to find the field
variables at nodal points by rigorous analysis, assuming
at any point inside the element basic variable is a
function of values at nodal points of the element.
✓ This function which relates the field variable at any point
within the element to the field variables of nodal points is
called shape function.
✓ This is also called as interpolation function and
approximating function.
Element Stiffness Matrix
The stiffness matrix of a structural system can be derived by
various methods like variation principle, Galerkin method etc.
The derivation of an element stiffness matrix has already been
discussed in earlier. The stiffness matrix is an inherent property
of the structure.
Element stiffness is obtained with respect to its axes and then
transformed this stiffness to structure axes.

The properties of stiffness matrix are as follows:

• Stiffness matrix is symmetric and square.
• In stiffness matrix, all diagonal elements are positive.
• Stiffness matrix is positive definite
 What is a matrix?
A rectangular array of numbers (we will concentrate on
real numbers). A nxm matrix has ‘n’ rows and ‘m’ columns

M11 M12 M13 M14  First row

M 3x4 
= M 21 M 22 M 23 
M 24  Second row
M 31 M 32 M 33 M 34  Third row

First Second Third Fourth

column column column column
Row number
M12 Column number
What is a vector?

A vector is an array of ‘n’ numbers

A row vector of length ‘n’ is a 1xn matrix

a 1 a2 a3 a4
A column vector of length ‘m’ is a mx1 matrix

 a1 
a 
 2
a3 
Special matrices

Zero matrix: A matrix all of whose entries are zero

0 0 0 0 
03x 4 = 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 
Identity matrix: A square matrix which has ‘1’ s on the
diagonal and zeros everywhere else.

1 0 0 
I3x 3 
= 0 1 0 
0 0 1
Matrix operations Addition of two
matrices

If A and B are two matrices of the same size,

then the sum of the matrices is a matrix C=A+B whose
entries are the sums of the corresponding entries of A and
B
 1 2 4  − 1 3 10 
  
A = − 3 0 7 B = − 3 1 0  
 9 1 5  1 0 6 
 0 5 14 

C = A + B = − 6 1 7  
 10 1 11 
 Addition of of matrices
Matrix operations
Properties

Properties of matrix addition:

1. Matrix addition is commutative (order of
addition does not matter)
A+B =B+A
2. Matrix addition is associative
A + (B + C ) = ( A + B ) + C
3. Addition of the zero matrix
A+0=0+A = A
Matrix operations Multiplication by a
scalar

If A is a matrix and c is a scalar, then the product cA is a

matrix whose entries are obtained by multiplying each of
the entries of A by c

1 2 4

A = − 3 
0 7 c = 3
 9 1 5
 3 6 12 

cA =  − 9 0 21
 27 3 15 
 Multiplication by a
scalar
Matrix operations
Special case

If A is a matrix and c =-1 is a scalar, then the product

(-1)A =-A is a matrix whose entries are obtained by
multiplying each of the entries of A by -1

 1 2 4

A =  − 3 0 7  c = −1
 9 1 5
−1 −2 − 4

cA = -A =  3 0 
− 7
 − 9 −1 − 5
Matrix operations Subtraction

If A and B are two square matrices of the same

size, then A-B is defined as the sum A+(-1)B

 1 2 4  − 1 3 10 
  
A = − 3 0 7 B =  − 3 1 0  
 9 1 5  1 0 6 
 2 − 1 − 6

C = A − B = 0 − 1 7  
8 1 − 1
Note that A - A = 0 and 0 - A = -A
 Transpose
Special
operations
If A is a mxn matrix, then the transpose of A is
the nxm matrix whose first column is the first
row of A, whose second column is the second
column of A and so on.

 1 2 4 1 − 3 9
  
A = − 3 0 7   A = 2
T
0 1
 9 1 5   4 7 5 
 Transpose
Special
operations

If A is a square matrix (mxm), it is called

symmetric if

A=A T
Matrix operations Matrix multiplication

For a product to be defined, the number of columns

of A must be equal to the number of rows of B.

A B = AB
mxr rxn mxn
inside

outside
 Matrix operations Matrix multiplication

If A is a mxr matrix and B is a rxn matrix, then the

product C=AB is a mxn matrix whose entries are
obtained as follows. The entry corresponding to row ‘i’
and column ‘j’ of C is the dot product of the vectors
formed by the row ‘i’ of A and column ‘j’ of B
 1 2 4  −1 3 
A 3x3 =  −3 0 7  B3x2 =  −3 1 
 9 1 5   1 0 
 −3  −1
T
5  1
C3x2 = AB = 10 −9  notice  2   −3 = −3
 
 −7 28   4   1 
 Multiplication of
Matrix operations matrices
Properties

Properties of matrix multiplication:

1. Matrix multiplication is noncommutative
(order of addition does matter)
AB  BA in ge ne ra l
• It may be that the product AB exists but BA
does not (e.g. in the previous example
C=AB is a 3x2 matrix, but BA does not
exist)
• Even if the product exists, the products AB
and BA are not generally the same
 Multiplication of
Matrix operations matrices
Properties

2. Matrix multiplication is associative

A (BC ) = ( AB )C
3. Distributive law
A (B + C ) = AB + AC
(B + C )A = BA + CA
4. Multiplication by identity matrix
A I = A ; IA = A
5. Multiplication by zero matrix A 0 = 0;0A = 0
6.
(A B ) T
=B A
T T
 Miscellaneous
Matrix operations properties

1. If A , B and C are square matrices of the

same size, and A  0 then AB = AC
does not necessarily mean that B = C
2. A B = 0 does not necessarily imply that
either A or B is zero
 What is a determinant?
The determinant of a square matrix is a number
obtained in a specific manner from the matrix.

For a 1x1 matrix:

A = a 1 1  ; det( A ) = a 1 1
For a 2x2 matrix:

 a11 a12 
A=  ; det( A ) = a11a 22 − a12a 21
 a 21 a 22 

Product along red arrow minus product along blue arrow

Example 1
1 3 
Consider the matrix A= 
 5 7 

Notice (1) A matrix is an array of numbers

(2) A matrix is enclosed by square brackets

1 3
det( A ) = = 1  7 − 3  5 = −8
5 7

Notice (1) The determinant of a matrix is a number

(2) The symbol for the determinant of a matrix is
a pair of parallel lines
Computation of larger matrices is more difficult
Duplicate column method for 3x3 matrix
For ONLY a 3x3 matrix write down the first two
columns after the third column

 a 11 a 12 a 13   a11 a12 a13  a11 a12

A = a 21 a 22 a 23  a 
 21 a 22 a 23  a 21 a 22
a 31 a 32 a 33  a 31 a 32 a 33  a 31 a 32
Sum of products along red arrow
minus sum of products along blue arrow

det( A ) = a 11a 22a 33 + a 12a 23a 31 + a 13a 21a 32

− a 13a 22a 31 − a 11a 23a 32 − a 12a 21a 33
This technique works only for 3x3 matrices
Example

2 4 - 3  2 4 − 3 2 4
A =  1 0 4 

1 0 
4 1 0
 2 - 1 2  
 2 − 1 2  2 −1

0 -8 8 0 32 3

Sum of red terms = 0 + 32 + 3 = 35

Sum of blue terms = 0 – 8 + 8 = 0
Determinant of matrix A= det(A) = 35 – 0 = 35