Seminar Report

VARIATIONAL METHODS FOR FINITE ELEMENT
FORMULATION
A SEMINAR REPORT
Submitted By
NITISH KUMAR
Enrolment No.: 10ME001076
Submitted in partial fulfilment for award of the degree
of
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
in
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
SIR PADAMPAT SINGHANIA UNIVERSITY
APRIL 2013
VARIATIONAL METHODS FOR FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION
TECHNICAL SEMINAR
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| BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE i
BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the Technical Seminar report entitled VARIATIONAL
METHODS FOR FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION being submitted by
NITISH KUMAR, in fulfilment of the requirement for the award of degree of
Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering, has been carried out under
my supervision and guidance.
The matter embodied in this thesis has not been submitted, in part or in full,
to any other university or institute for the award of any degree, diploma or
certificate.
(Mr Naveen Kumar)
HEAD
Mechanical Engineering Department
Sir Padampat Singhania University
Udaipur
(Mr T.Govardhan)
SUPERVISOR
Assistant Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department
Udaipur
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| DECLARATION ii
DECLARATION
I, NITISH KUMAR, student of B.Tech. (Mechanical Engineering)
hereby declare that the project titled VARIATIONAL METHODS FOR
FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION which is submitted by me to
Department of Mechanical engineering , School of Engineering , Sir Padampat
Singhania University, Udaipur, in partial fulfilment of requirement for the
award of the degree of Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical engineering , has
not been previously formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma or
other similar title or recognition.
Name and signature of Student
NITISH KUMAR
Enrolment no.: 10ME001076
Department of Mechanical Engineering
B.Tech. 3
rd
Year
Udaipur
Date: Saturday, 30 March 2013
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| ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I, NITISH KUMAR would like to formally recognise the valued contribution
of my faculty and teachers, without whom this report would not have reached its
current state. In particular, this report would like to formally acknowledge the
Department of Mechanical Engineering of Sir Padampat Singhania University,
Udaipur, for its support that made this project possible.
I would also like to express my gratitude to the project's supervisor, Mr T.
Govardhan (Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sir
Padampat Singhania University); not only for his expertise, but also for the genuine
interest he has taken in our education and research.
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| ABSTRACT iv
ABSTRACT
In engineering world, every situation is considered in a form of physical phenomenon
i.e. it can be explained in terms of algebraic, differential and/or exponential equation relating
it with various laws of physics. Analytical computation done by dividing the given situation
in smaller elements upon which the same laws are applicable, is the field of scope of Finite
Element Analysis or FEM.
Numerical methods of finite element analysis is helpful in solving problems from field
of automobile industry, aerospace industry, structural engineering and even in new
technologies like Nano-sciences or bio-pharmaceutical industries. The finite element method
is a good choice for solving partial differential equations over complicated domains (like cars
and oil pipelines), when the domain changes (as during a solid state reaction with a moving
boundary), when the desired precision varies over the entire domain; or when the solution
lacks smoothness. For instance, in a frontal crash simulation it is possible to increase
prediction accuracy in "important" areas like the front of the car and reduce it in its rear (thus
reducing cost of the simulation).
This project report is generalized description of various mathematical models and
variational techniques used in finite element analysis and hence discuss some of the common
method to solve such situations.
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| TABLE OF CONTENTS v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION .................................................................................................. ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................... iii
ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................... v
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ............................................................................... vi
1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1
1.1. IMPORTANCE OF FINITE ELEMENT METHOD .............................. 1
1.2. BRIEF HISTORY AND RECENT DEVELOPMENTS ......................... 2
2. NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS .................................................................... 4
2.1. FINITE DIFFERENCE METHOD .......................................................... 4
2.2. FINITE ELEMENT METHOD ............................................................... 5
3. INTRODUCTION TO VARIATIONAL METHODS ................................... 6
3.1. NEED FOR WEIGHTED-INTEGRAL STATEMENTS ........................ 6
3.2. VARIOUS INTEGRAL FORMULATIONS ........................................... 8
3.2.1. THE PETROV-GALERKIN METHOD ......................................... 10
3.2.2. THE GALERKIN METHOD .......................................................... 10
3.2.3. THE LEAST SQUARES METHOD ............................................... 10
3.2.4. THE COLLOCATION METHOD .................................................. 11
4. APPLICATION OF WEIGHTED RESIDUAL METHODS ...................... 12
5. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................. 16
6. REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 17
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| LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vi

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURE 1: DETERMINTION OF PERIMETER OF CIRCLE. ............................................. 2
FIGURE 2: VARIOUS NUMERICAL METHODS USED IN FEM AND MAJOR
CONTRIBUTIONS MADE BY THE RESEARCHERS IN THE YEAR SHOWN
FOLLOWING THEIR NAMES. ............................................................................. 3
FIGURE 3: PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF FEM IN ANALYSIS OF MAGNETIC FIELD
DEVELOPED AROUND CURRENT CARRYING COIL. DIVISION OF GIVEN DOMAIN
IN SUB-DOMAINS BEFORE ANALYSIS IS SHOWN IN LEFT FIGURE. ..................... 5

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| INTRODUCTION 1

1. INTRODUCTION

Engineers in todays era required to analyse and study the various physical phenomenon
occurring in the nature whether aerospace, biological, chemical or mechanical can be
described with the aid of the laws of physics or other fields in terms of algebraic, differential
and/or integral equations relating various quantities of interest. Determining stress
distribution in a pressure vessel with oddly shaped holes and numerous bolts is subjected to
thermal and/or pressure loads is one of the examples of many important practical problems
that engineers deal with.
The finite element method (FEM), or finite element analysis (FEA), is based on the idea of
building a complicated object with simple blocks, or, dividing a complicated object into small
and manageable pieces. Application of this simple idea can be found everywhere in everyday
life as well as in engineering.
Analytical description of such physical phenomena and processes are called mathematical
models. Mathematical models of a process are developed using various assumptions and
axioms or laws governing the process and they are often characterised by very complex
differential and/or integral equations applied on geometrically complicated domains. Over the
last three decades, computers have made it possible, with the help of suitable mathematical
and numerical methods, to solve many practical problems of engineering more easily. The use
of a numerical method and a computer to evaluate the mathematical model of a process and
estimate its characteristics is called numerical simulation. The development of mathematical
models and use of numerical simulations for different physical systems is known as
computational mechanics.
1.1. IMPORTANCE OF FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
There are several reasons why an engineer or a scientist should study finite element
method or more importantly a numerical method. Some of them are:
1. Most of the practical problems arising in industries and in nature, generally involves
complicated domains and non linarities that makes the development of analytical
solutions difficult. Therefore the only solution is to find the numerical solution using
numerical methods.

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| INTRODUCTION 2

2. Numerical Methods, with the help of a computer simulation, can be used to
investigate the effects of various parameters (e.g. geometry, material parameters, or
loads) of the system in order to record its response to gain a better understanding of
the system being analysed. It is cost effective and saves time, material and human
power to have same level of understanding about the system.
Because of above reasons, industries ranging from aerospace sectors to companies
designing soft drink bottles, uses finite element methods in one way or another to better serve
their purpose in much more efficient manner.
1.2. BRIEF HISTORY AND RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
The idea of representing a given domain as a collection of discrete parts is not unique to
finite element methods. Ancient mathematicians recorded the value of by noting the
perimeter of a polygon inscribed inside the circle, approximates the circumference of the
latter. In this way, they predicted the value of to accuracy of about 40 significant digits.

Figure 1: Determintion of perimeter of circle.
Historically, all major practical advances of the method have taken place since the early
1950s in conjunction with the development of digital computers. However, interests in
approximate solutions of field equations dates as far back in time as the development of the
classical field theories (e.g. elasticity, electro-magnetism) themselves. The work of Lord
Rayleigh (1870) and W. Ritz (1909) on variational methods and the weighted-residual
approach taken by B. G. Galerkin (1915) and others form the theoretical framework to the
finite element method. With a bit of a stretch, one may even claim that Schellbachs
approximate solution to Plateaus problem (find a surface of minimum area enclosed by a
given closed curve in three dimensions), which dates back to 1851 is a rudimentary
application of the finite element method. Most researchers agree that the era of the finite
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| INTRODUCTION 3

element method begins with a lecture presented in 1941 by R. Courant to the American
Association for the Advancement of Science. In his work, Courant used the Ritz method and
introduced the pivotal concept of spatial discretization for the solution of the classical torsion
problem. Courant did not pursue his idea further, since computers were still largely
unavailable for his research. More than a decade later Ray W. Clough, Jr. of the University of
California, Berkeley, and is colleagues essentially reinvented the finite element method as a
natural extension of matrix structural analysis and published their first work in 1956.
The finite element has been subject to intense research, both at the mathematical and
technical level, and thousands of scientific articles and hundreds of books about it have been
authored. By the beginning of the 1990s, the method clearly dominated the numerical solution
of problems in the fields of structural analysis, structural mechanics and solid mechanics.
Moreover, the finite element method currently competes in popularity with the finite
difference method in the areas of heat transfer and fluid mechanics.

Figure 2: Various Numerical Methods used in FEM and major contributions made by the researchers
in the year shown following their names.
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| NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS 4

2. NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS
Numerical simulation is a process of finding an approximate solution of a given system
by converting its complex governing equations into sets of algebraic equations using
computers. There exist a number of numerical methods, many of which are used to solve the
differential equations. Some of them are discussed below.
2.1. FINITE DIFFERENCE METHOD
Finite difference approximation (FDA) of a differential equation is a method in which the
derivatives in the governing equations are replaced by difference quotients, generally by
using Taylor expansion series. The resulting algebraic equations are solved for the values of
the solutions at mesh points after imposing the boundary conditions. This can be made more
clear from the following solution.
Consider a first order differential equation for a system

(2.1.1)
where f is a known function.
Let
be the initial condition applied for .

By taking approximation of the derivative at
.

(

(2.1.2)
For increasingly small value of
, the error decreases significantly.

Substituting equation (2.1.2) in (2.1.1), we obtain

(2.1.3)
where

and

The equation (2.1.3) can be repeated to determine the values of u at .
This method is known as Eulers explicit scheme (or, first order Runge-Kutta method) also
known as forward difference scheme.

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| NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS 5

2.2. FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
The finite element method is a numerical method like finite difference method but is more
powerful and general in its application to real world problems that involve complicated
physics, geometry, and/or boundary conditions. In a FEM, a geometrically complex domain,
is represented as a collection of geometrically simple sub-domains, called finite elements.
Each finite element,
e
is viewed as an independent domain by itself.

Figure 3: Practical application of FEM in analysis of magnetic field developed around current carrying
coil. Division of given domain in sub-domains before analysis is shown in left figure.

Over each finite element, algebraic equations among the quantities of interest are
developed using the governing equations and boundary conditions given in the problem.
Finally the relationships from all the elements are assembled using certain inter-related
relationships and deviation from true results is found out.
The advantages of this method are:
1. Finite element method allows accurate representation of complex geometries and
inclusion of dissimilar material properties.
2. It enables easy representation of total solution by function defined within each
element that captures local effect.
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| INTRODUCTION TO VARIATIONAL METHODS 6

3. INTRODUCTION TO VARIATIONAL METHODS
Variational methods refer to the methods that make use of variational principles of virtual
work and the principle of minimum total potential energy in solid and structural mechanics to
determine approximate solutions of problems. In other words, a variational principle is related
with finding the extremum (i.e., minimum or maximum) or stationary values of a function
with respect to the variables of the problem.
Variational formulations refer to the construction of a function or a variational principle
that is equivalent to the governing equation of the problem. These governing equations are
translated into equivalent weighted integral statements that are not necessarily equivalent to a
variational principle. To solve the governing equations of the physical system using
variational methods, it is needed to convert the given differential equations into weighted-
integral statements.
3.1. NEED FOR WEIGHTED-INTEGRAL STATEMENTS
Consider the following differential equation

)
(3.1.1)

subjected to the boundary conditions

(

Let us assume an approximate solution of u(x) over the domain = (0,1) in the form

(3.1.2)
where c
j
are coefficients to be determined and
and
are functions chosen such

that specified boundary conditions of the problem are satisfied by the N-parameter
approximate solution U
N
.

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Therefore, for above given problem, we have

(3.1.3)
with,

To make U
2
satisfy the differential equation (3.1.1), we must have

(3.1.4)
Comparing the coefficients of x, x
2
and x
3
we get

The above relations are inconsistent. However, we can require the approximate solution
U
N
to satisfy the differential equation (3.1.1) in the weighted-integral sense,

(3.1.5)
where R denotes the left side of the equality in (3.1.5) and is called the residual.

(3.1.6)
and w(x) is called weight function.
from (3.1.5) if we take w=1 and w=x, we obtain

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or

which provides two linearly independent equations for
and
whose solution is

As we can see from equation (3.1.5) that weighted-integral solution provide a mean to
obtain as many algebraic equation as there are unknown coefficients in the approximate
solution.
There are number of variational methods used such as Ritz, Galerkin, collocation, and
least square methods. These methods differ from each other on the choice of weight function
w and/or the integral method used, which in turn dictates the approximation function
.
3.2. VARIOUS INTEGRAL FORMULATIONS
As discussed in previous section, using weighted integral statements of differential
equations we can determine unknown parameters c
j
in equation (3.1.2). The variational
methods of approximations, e.g. Ritz, Galerkin, least-squares, collocation or Petrov-Galerkin
methods are based on weighted integral statements of the governing equations.
Various integral Formulations can be obtained from weight residual function, i.e.

(3.2.1)
where i=1,2,3,,N
In the above equation (3.2.1),
are set of linearly independent function called weight

functions.
is called residual of approximation of differential function, and is

represented by,

(
]
(3.2.2)
for

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From equation (3.2.1), by substituting weight function,
, we can obtain the following

special cases:
Petrov Galerkin Method

Galerkins Method

Least Squares Method
]
Collocation Method

The above approximation methods are discussed in the following topics.
Since till now, we have only discussed a generalised equation and its weighted residual
form. A more generalised form can be written in the following manner, by considering
operator equation.
(3.2.3)
where A(u) is an operator (linear or non-linear), often a differential operator acting on
dependent variable u, and f, is the known function of independent variable. Some examples of
such operators are:

)
[
)]

)
For operator A to be linear in its arguments, it must satisfy the relation
(3.2.4)
For any scalar values and and dependent variables u and v. Whenever any operator
doesnt satisfy equation (3.2.4), it is said to be a non-linear operator.
Also note that in equation (3.2.1) a two dimensional weight function is represented as
.
The set {
} must be linearly independent set; otherwise the equation

(3.2.5)
will not be linearly independent and hence will not be solvable.
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3.2.1. THE PETROV-GALERKIN METHOD
The weighted residual method is referred to as Petrov-Galerkin method when
.
When the operator A is linear, equation (3.2.5), can be simplified to the form
[
(3.2.1a)

or

or
Ac = F
where matrix [A] is not symmetric.

3.2.2. THE GALERKIN METHOD
If weight function
is chosen to be equal to the approximation function
, the weighted
residual function is better known as Galerkin method. The algebraic equations of Galerkin
approximation are
Ac = F
where

and

3.2.3. THE LEAST SQUARES METHOD
In least squares method, the parameter c
j
in equation (3.2.5) is determined by minimising
the integral of the square of the residual given by the same equation.

)
3.2.3a

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On comparing equation (3.2.3.1) with equation (3.2.5), we get

If A is linear operator,
. Therefore, we get
[

or
Ac = F
where

and

Here, matrix A
ij
is symmetric but it involves same order differentiation as in governing
equation A(u)-f = 0.
3.2.4. THE COLLOCATION METHOD
In the collocation method, we seek an approximation of U
N
by requiring the residual to
vanish identically at N selected points x
i
= (x
i
,y
i
,z
i
) (I = 1,2,,N) in the domain
R(x
t
,c
j
) = 0 (i = 1,2,,N)
The selection of x
i
points is crucial in obtaining an accurate solution. The collocation
method can be shown to be a special case of equation (3.2.5) when

where is the Dirac delta function, which is defined by

With this choice of weight functions, the weighted residual statement becomes
(
)
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| APPLICATION OF WEIGHTED RESIDUAL METHODS 12

4. APPLICATION OF WEIGHTED RESIDUAL METHODS
Consider the differential equation

(4.1)
at boundary conditions

For a weighted residual method,
i
and
0
should satisfy the following conditions

Let us assume

and using above two boundary conditions, to determine constants a and b we obtain

Since there are two homogeneous conditions, we must assume at least a three parameter
polynomial to obtain a non-zero function,

Using the condition on

The constant c can be set equal to unity. Hence, for
2
we assume,

Applying boundary conditions, we obtain,
)
Hence we obtain residual in the approximation of the differential equation as
(
) (

The Petrov-Galerkin Method:
Let the weight functions be

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Then,

or

Solving for c
1
and c
2
, we obtain,

The solution becomes,

The Galerkin Method:
Taking
, we have,

or

Solving for c
1
and c
2
, we obtain,


The Least Squares Method:
Taking

we have,

or

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Solving for c
1
and c
2
, we obtain,


The Collocation Method:
Choosing the point
and
as the collocation point, evaluating residuals at these

points and setting them to zero, we get
(

Solving for c
1
and c
2
, we obtain,


The Exact Solution:
The exact solution for equation (4.1) is given by

The comparison of various variational weighted residual methods with the exact solution is
given on next page:

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Table 1: Comparison of Various Weighted Residual Methods. (Data obtained from MATLAB
R2011a)
x

0 0 0 0 0 0
0.1 0.1262 0.1285 0.1275 0.1252 0.1348
0.2 0.2513 0.2534 0.2523 0.2485 0.2668
0.3 0.3742 0.3746 0.3742 0.3699 0.3958
0.4 0.4943 0.4922 0.4932 0.4891 0.5216
0.5 0.6112 0.6059 0.6093 0.6059 0.6440
0.6 0.7244 0.7158 0.7226 0.7200 0.7628
0.7 0.8340 0.8216 0.8330 0.8314 0.8778
0.8 0.9402 0.9234 0.9404 0.9397 0.9887
0.9 1.0433 1.0210 1.0449 1.0449 1.0954
1 1.1442 1.1144 1.1464 1.1467 1.1977

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| CONCLUSION 16

5. CONCLUSION
From the discussion provided in this report, it is apparent that the variational methods can
provide a powerful means to find an approximate solutions, provided one can find a way to
systematically construct approximation functions, for almost any geometry, that depend only
on the differential equation being solved and not on the boundary conditions of the problem.
The above said property enables one to develop computer program for a particular class
of a problem, i.e. a general purpose computer program. Hence, the variational principles is
one of the most frequently and widely used methods of finite element analysis which is being
employed today for research and simulation purposes.
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| REFERENCES 17

6. REFERENCES

1. Belytschko T., Krongauz Y., Organ D., Fleming M., and Krysl P. (eds.) (1994),
Meshless Methods: An overview and recent Developments-Computer Methods in
Applied Mechanics and Engineering, pp 3-47.
2. Reddy J.N. (2012) An Introduction to Finite Element Method-Tata Mc-Graw Hill
Publication Pvt. Limited, New Dehi, 3rd Edition pp 1-102.
3. Zeinkiewicz O.C. and Cheung Y.K. (1967), The Finite Element Method in Structural
and Continuum Mechanics-Mc-Graw Hill, London, pp 23-26.

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VARIATIONAL METHODS FOR FINITE ELEMENT

be the initial condition applied for .

, the error decreases significantly.

are functions chosen such

are set of linearly independent function called weight

is called residual of approximation of differential function, and is

, we can obtain the following

} must be linearly independent set; otherwise the equation

is chosen to be equal to the approximation function

as the collocation point, evaluating residuals at these

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