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CHAPTER 3 { THE FINITE ELEMENT CONCEPT 16 ‘3 THE FINITE ELEMENT CONCEPT In this section the finite clement concept is introduced by considering a simple one- HE a Ny = SD 2 HD yy (628) ax) E2-H ‘Te compute the displacement at the midpoint ofthe element, where x = L/4, we have ~2xk axe and ly, = 3812 thu, = ‘The above equation indicates thatthe displacement at the midpoint of the element is ‘merely equal tothe average ofthe displacements at its ends, which swhat we would expect intuitively ‘Similar calealations may be performed for element two, where = 1/2) . erp ~ In computing the above shape functions, iti crucial to note that the local node numbers tone and two of element two correspond to the global node numbers two and three. Accordingly, the displacement at any pint in element two may now be written as = Ny + Noid = NU, +NUs ‘To compute the displacement a the midpoint of the element, where SL/A , we have wake Nya 2-2x8 ted £72 and edu, +h undu, +10, iL? 16E ‘The finite clement solution for the displacement at various point in the rod is shown in Tble A, x 0 Lis rR 3Li4 L : 0 ama a2 ie ae 16E 8 16E 26 ‘Table 3.1 Finite clement solution fortwo linear elements ‘To compute the strains at any point inside an element, we differentiate the displacements. In element one for example, equation (3.10) gives Ay My eta bre and hence [Note that the strainis constant over each element. This is because the strain isa frstorder differential of the linearlyvarying displacement. Sinilai for element two, we obtain, eg ew eg ae My, 4 = Gb id + Gd = G+ GU, G2) with an, ect G30) aN, 2 ae? 63 and hence ‘Comparing the strains between element one and element two, we see that they are different. This implies that the strains are discontinuous between elements. The displacements, on the other hand, which are the primary variables, are continuous throughout the mesh. Generally speaking, the jump in strain between adjacent elements {is reduced as the number of elements is increased, (Once the strains have been found, the stresses may be computed using the stress-strain (constitutive) law. For uniaxial elastic conditions, the axial stress is related to the axial strain via Young's modulus F according to on Ee 6.32) Since the strains are constant across each element, so are the stresses. The stresses may jump between adjacent elements. For element one we have op = Ex SEL. EL EX gg ‘Similarly, for element two we xX ML Om BX GEG ‘To assess the performance of our finite element mode, it i instructive to compare the results from the two-element mesh with the exact solution, ‘The accuracy of the nodal displacements and element stresses is of particular interest, 3.4 Comparison of Finite Element Solution with Exact Solution ‘The equilibrium equation of the rod is given by (3.1). Substituting (3.2) and (3.32), the governing differential equation becomes ait ye £ab +0 "This may be integrated to give where cis an integration constant, ‘The boundary conditions at the free end of the rod, where x = L, are oy = Eilujdx = du/dx = 0. These define the integration constant as = EL/E. Thus the exact solution for the strain distribution ia the rod is ag t= Fu -2 833) Using (6.32), thestrosss are given by ox Bes = RL 63 Integrating (3.33) again, we obtain the displacements as oo iu -¥) G35) where the integration constants er since u = 0 when x = 0 ‘The exact displacements are compared with the two-element finite element solution in ‘Table 32 and Figure 35. x ° us 12 sue L 7 5 ae | ame w@ 16 ae 2 ans 0 pray ma t RE a %exor 0 =14 o ~7 0 ‘Table 3.2; Errors infinite element displacements For this problem, the finite element displacements match the exact displacements at the nodes, butnot atpointsinside the elements, In general, thenodal displacements from finite clement analysis do not match the exact displacements, and itis necessary to refine the ‘mesh by trial and error until the displacement errors are small. Tt also interesting to note that the displacements are never greater than the exact displacements. This is always tric for displacement finite clement analysis of linea elastic materials where it can be shown that the finite clement stifiness matrix is invariably too “stiff”, The fact that the nodal isplacements approach the exact displacements from below is very useful in finding suitable mesh by tral and error, 06 —_____ 05: oa. aE 931 finite clement mm 0 035 050 075 100 ‘Figure 3.5: Comparison of finite element solution with exact solution 0 ‘The errors n the stresses are generally much larger than the errors inthe displacements, as shown in Table 3.3 and Figure 26. element 1 clement 2 x 0 La Le 12 | 3u4 L o ama | aera | axes | mua | xu | xrys @aar| %E | ae | mp | me | ma | o Yeenor | 25 0 50 50 0 = ‘Table 3.3: Errors in finite element stresses Unlike the displacements, the computed stresses are most accurate atthe centre of each clement, This is because the finite element procedure attempts to model the exact stress field in a least squares sense. Because the stres is constant within each clement, and no continuity conditions are imposed, itis inevitable that stress jumps, such as those shown in Figure 3.6, occur between elements, This introduces ambiguity ifthe stress is sampled at the nodes. In Table 33, for example, node two basa stress of 3X1/4in element one bat stress of XL/4 in element two. Quite cleat, as the number of clementsis increased, the size of the stress jumps, and the corresponding ambiguity, will iminish. In displacement finite element analysis, its usual to sample the stestes at points inside the elenment and the displacements atthe nodes. The precise location ofthe points fr sampling the stresses dependson the typeof element and willbe discussed in subsequent letures. For our simple problem, however, the finite element stresses match the exact stresses ifthe former are ‘sampled at the centre of each element finite element 0 035050075 1.00 i Figure 3.6: Comparison of finite element solution with exact solution

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