46 Finite Element Analysis with Error Estimators

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

0
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
0.07
0.08
Cubic Global Galerkin, by parts, u"+u+x=0, u(0)=0=u(1)
X
u
,

*

=

F
E
A

a
p
p
r
o
x
i
m
a
t
i
o
n
Figure 2.8 Exact (-) and cubic global Galerkin (*) solutions
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
0
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
0.07
0.08
Quadratic Global Galerkin, by parts, u"+u+x=0, u(0)=0=u(1)
X
u
,

o

=

F
E
A

a
p
p
r
o
x
i
m
a
t
i
o
n
Figure 2.9 Exact (-) and quadratic global Galerkin (o) solutions
Chapter 2, Mathematical preliminaries 47
dimension problems it is the ux vector, q. On a boundary we may be interested in a
related scalar term, q
n
= q
.
n, which is the ux normal to the boundary dened by the
unit normal vector n. For the special case of the one-dimensional form being considered
here we need to note that at the left limit of the domain n = 1 i while at the right limit it
is n = + 1 i. In this case, the Galerkin method states that the function, w, that satises the
boundary conditions and the integral form:
(2.36)
I =

L
0
[
dw
dx
du
dx
w u wQ] dx + u ( 0 ) w ( 0 ) u ( L ) w ( L ) = 0,
also satises Eq. 2.15. For a nite element model we must generate a mesh that
subdivides the domain and (usually) its boundary. The unknown coefcients in the nite
element model, D, will be assigned to the node points of the mesh. Within each element
the solution will be approximated by an assumed local spatial behavior. That in turn
denes the assumptions for spatial derivatives in an element domain. To illustrate this in
one-dimension consider Fig. 2.10 which compares an exact solution (dashed) and a
piecewise linear nite element model. The domains of inuence of a typical element and
a typical node are sketched there. In a nite element model, I is assumed to be the sum
of the n
e
element and n
b
boundary segment contributions so that
(2.37) I =
n
e
e=1

I
e
+
n
b
b=1

I
b
,
where here n
b
= 2 and consists of the last two terms given in Eq. 2.36. A typical element
term is
I
e
=
L
e

( du
e
/ dx )
2
(u
e
)
2
Q
e
u
e

dx,
where L
e
is the length of the element. To evaluate such a typical element contribution, it
is necessary to introduce a set of interpolation functions, H, so u
e
(x) = H
e
(x) D
e
, and
(2.38) du
e
/ dx = dH
e
/ dx D
e
= D
e
T
dH
e
T
/dx,
where D
e
denotes the nodal values of u for element e. One of the few standard notations
in nite element analysis is to denote the result of the differential operator acting on the
interpolation functions, H, by the symbol B. That is, B
e
d H
e
/ dx. Thus, a typical
element contribution is
(2.39) I
e
= D
e
T
S
e
D
e
D
e
T
C
e
,
with S
e
= (S
e
1
S
e
2
) and where the rst contribution to the square matrix is
S
e
1

L
e

dH
e
T
dx
dH
e
dx
dx =
L
e

B
e
T
B
e
dx,
which, for this linear element, has a constant integrand and can be integrated by
inspection. The second square matrix contribution and the resultant source vector are:
S
e
2

L
e

H
e
T
H
e
dx, C
e

L
e

Q
e
H
e
T
dx.
Clearly, both the element degrees of freedom, D
e
, and the boundary degrees of freedom,
D
b
, are subsets of the total vector of unknown parameters, D. That is, D
e
D and
D
b
D. Of course, the D
b
are usually a subset of the D
e
( i.e., D
b
D
e
and in higher