The Finite Element Method: Its Basis and Fundamentals

The Finite Element Method: Its Basis and Fundamentals offers a complete introduction to the basis of the finite element method, covering fundamental theory and worked examples in the detail required for readers to apply the knowledge to their own engineering problems and understand more advanced applications.

This edition sees a significant rearrangement of the book’s content to enable clearer development of the finite element method, with major new chapters and sections added to cover:

Weak formsVariational formsMulti-dimensional field problems Automatic mesh generationPlate bending and shellsDevelopments in meshless techniques

Focusing on the core knowledge, mathematical and analytical tools needed for successful application, The Finite Element Method: Its Basis and Fundamentals is the authoritative resource of choice for graduate level students, researchers and professional engineers involved in finite element-based engineering analysis.

A proven keystone reference in the library of any engineer needing to understand and apply the finite element method in design and developmentFounded by an influential pioneer in the field and updated in this seventh edition by an author team incorporating academic authority and industrial simulation experienceFeatures reworked and reordered contents for clearer development of the theory, plus new chapters and sections on mesh generation, plate bending, shells, weak forms and variational forms

Some Preliminaries: The Standard Discrete System; A Direct Physical Approach to Problems in Elasticity; Generalization of the Finite Element Concepts; Galerkin-Weighted Residual and Variational Approaches; 'Standard’ and ‘hierarchical’ Element Shape Functions: Some General Families of Continuity; Mapped Elements and Numerical Integration – ‘Infinite’ and ‘Singularity’ Elements; Two Dimensional Problems in Plane Stress, Plane Strain and Axisymmetric Elasticity; Steady-State Field Problems; Three-Dimensional Elasticity and Field Problems; Mesh Generation; The Patch Test; Mixed Formulation and Constraints – Complete Field Methods; Incompressible Materials; Mixed Formulation and Constraints; Errors, Recovery Processes and Error Estimates; Adaptive Finite Element Refinement; Point-Based Approximations – Meshless Methods; The Time Dimension – Semi-discretization of Field and Dynamic Problems and Analytical Solution Procedures; The Time Dimension – Discrete Approximation in Time; Coupled Systems; Computer Procedures for Finite Element Analysis; Matrix Algebra; Tensor-Indicial Notation in the Approximation of Elasticity Problems; Basic Equations of Displacement Analysis; Some Integration Formulae for a Triangle; Some Integration Formulae for a Tetrahedron; Some Vector Algebra; Integration by Parts in Two and Three Dimensions (Green’s Theorem); Solutions Exact at Nodes; Matrix Diagonalization or Lumping