Finiteelementmethod

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Thefiniteelementmethod(FEM)isanumericaltechniqueforfindingapproximatesolutionstoboundaryvalue
problemsforpartialdifferentialequations.Itisalsoreferredtoasfiniteelementanalysis(FEA).Itsubdividesa
largeproblemintosmaller,simplerpartsthatarecalledfiniteelements.Thesimpleequationsthatmodelthese
finiteelementsarethenassembledintoalargersystemofequationsthatmodelstheentireproblem.FEMthenuses
variationalmethodsfromthecalculusofvariationstoapproximateasolutionbyminimizinganassociatederror
function.

Contents
1 Basicconcepts
2 History
3 Technicaldiscussion
3.1 Thestructureoffiniteelementmethods
3.2 IllustrativeproblemsP1andP2
3.3 Weakformulation
3.3.1 TheweakformofP1
3.3.2 TheweakformofP2
3.3.3 Aproofoutlineofexistenceanduniquenessofthesolution
4 Discretization
4.1 ForproblemP1
4.2 ForproblemP2
4.3 Choosingabasis
4.4 Smallsupportofthebasis
4.5 Matrixformoftheproblem
4.6 Generalformofthefiniteelementmethod
5 Varioustypesoffiniteelementmethods
5.1 AEM
5.2 Generalizedfiniteelementmethod
5.3 Mixedfiniteelementmethod
5.4 hpFEM
5.5 hpkFEM
5.6 XFEM
5.7 SFEM
5.8 Spectralelementmethod
5.9 Meshfreemethods
5.10 DiscontinuousGalerkinmethods
5.11 Finiteelementlimitanalysis
5.12 Stretchedgridmethod
6 Linkwiththegradientdiscretisationmethod
7 Comparisontothefinitedifferencemethod
8 Application
9 Seealso
10 References
11 Furtherreading
12 Externallinks

Basicconcepts
Thesubdivisionofawholedomainintosimplerpartshasseveraladvantages:[1]
Accuraterepresentationofcomplexgeometry
Inclusionofdissimilarmaterialproperties
Easyrepresentationofthetotalsolution
Captureoflocaleffects.
Atypicalworkoutofthemethodinvolves(1)dividingthedomainoftheproblemintoacollectionofsubdomains,
witheachsubdomainrepresentedbyasetofelementequationstotheoriginalproblem,followedby(2)
systematicallyrecombiningallsetsofelementequationsintoaglobalsystemofequationsforthefinalcalculation.
Theglobalsystemofequationshasknownsolutiontechniques,andcanbecalculatedfromtheinitialvaluesofthe
originalproblemtoobtainanumericalanswer.
Inthefirststepabove,theelementequationsaresimpleequationsthatlocallyapproximatetheoriginalcomplex
equationstobestudied,wheretheoriginalequationsareoftenpartialdifferentialequations(PDE).Toexplainthe
approximationinthisprocess,FEMiscommonlyintroducedasaspecialcaseofGalerkinmethod.Theprocess,in
mathematicallanguage,istoconstructanintegraloftheinnerproductoftheresidualandtheweightfunctionsand
settheintegraltozero.Insimpleterms,itisaprocedurethatminimizestheerrorofapproximationbyfittingtrial
functionsintothePDE.Theresidualistheerrorcausedbythetrialfunctions,andtheweightfunctionsare
polynomialapproximationfunctionsthatprojecttheresidual.Theprocesseliminatesallthespatialderivatives
fromthePDE,thusapproximatingthePDElocallywith
asetofalgebraicequationsforsteadystateproblems,
asetofordinarydifferentialequationsfortransientproblems.
Theseequationsetsaretheelementequations.TheyarelineariftheunderlyingPDEislinear,andviceversa.
Algebraicequationsetsthatariseinthesteadystateproblemsaresolvedusingnumericallinearalgebramethods,
whileordinarydifferentialequationsetsthatariseinthetransientproblemsaresolvedbynumericalintegration
usingstandardtechniquessuchasEuler'smethodortheRungeKuttamethod.
Instep(2)above,aglobalsystemofequationsisgeneratedfromtheelementequationsthroughatransformationof
coordinatesfromthesubdomains'localnodestothedomain'sglobalnodes.Thisspatialtransformationincludes
appropriateorientationadjustmentsasappliedinrelationtothereferencecoordinatesystem.Theprocessisoften
carriedoutbyFEMsoftwareusingcoordinatedatageneratedfromthesubdomains.
FEMisbestunderstoodfromitspracticalapplication,knownasfiniteelementanalysis(FEA).FEAasappliedin
engineeringisacomputationaltoolforperformingengineeringanalysis.Itincludestheuseofmeshgeneration
techniquesfordividingacomplexproblemintosmallelements,aswellastheuseofsoftwareprogramcodedwith
FEMalgorithm.InapplyingFEA,thecomplexproblemisusuallyaphysicalsystemwiththeunderlyingphysics
suchastheEulerBernoullibeamequation,theheatequation,ortheNavierStokesequationsexpressedineither
PDEorintegralequations,whilethedividedsmallelementsofthecomplexproblemrepresentdifferentareasin
thephysicalsystem.
FEAisagoodchoiceforanalyzingproblemsovercomplicateddomains(likecarsandoilpipelines),whenthe
domainchanges(asduringasolidstatereactionwithamovingboundary),whenthedesiredprecisionvariesover
theentiredomain,orwhenthesolutionlackssmoothness.Forinstance,inafrontalcrashsimulationitispossible
toincreasepredictionaccuracyin"important"areaslikethefrontofthecarandreduceitinitsrear(thusreducing
costofthesimulation).Anotherexamplewouldbeinnumericalweatherprediction,whereitismoreimportantto
haveaccuratepredictionsoverdevelopinghighlynonlinearphenomena(suchastropicalcyclonesinthe
atmosphere,oreddiesintheocean)ratherthanrelativelycalmareas.

FEMmeshcreatedbyananalystpriortofindinga
solutiontoamagneticproblemusingFEM
software.Coloursindicatethattheanalysthasset
materialpropertiesforeachzone,inthiscasea
conductingwirecoilinorangeaferromagnetic
component(perhapsiron)inlightblueandairin
grey.Althoughthegeometrymayseemsimple,it
wouldbeverychallengingtocalculatethemagnetic
fieldforthissetupwithoutFEMsoftware,using
equationsalone.

FEMsolutiontotheproblematleft,involvinga
cylindricallyshapedmagneticshield.The
ferromagneticcylindricalpartisshieldingthearea
insidethecylinderbydivertingthemagneticfield
createdbythecoil(rectangularareaontheright).
Thecolorrepresentstheamplitudeofthemagnetic
fluxdensity,asindicatedbythescaleintheinset
legend,redbeinghighamplitude.Theareainside
thecylinderislowamplitude(darkblue,with
widelyspacedlinesofmagneticflux),which
suggeststhattheshieldisperformingasitwas
designedto.

History
Whileitisdifficulttoquoteadateoftheinventionofthefiniteelementmethod,themethodoriginatedfromthe
needtosolvecomplexelasticityandstructuralanalysisproblemsincivilandaeronauticalengineering.Its
developmentcanbetracedbacktotheworkbyA.Hrennikoff[2]andR.Courant.[3]InChina,inthelater1950sand
early1960s,basedonthecomputationsofdamconstructions,K.Fengproposedasystematicnumericalmethodfor
solvingpartialdifferentialequations.Themethodwascalledthefinitedifferencemethodbasedonvariation
principle,whichwasanotherindependentinventionofthefiniteelementmethod.Althoughtheapproachesusedby
thesepioneersaredifferent,theyshareoneessentialcharacteristic:meshdiscretizationofacontinuousdomaininto
asetofdiscretesubdomains,usuallycalledelements.
Hrennikoff'sworkdiscretizesthedomainbyusingalatticeanalogy,whileCourant'sapproachdividesthedomain
intofinitetriangularsubregionstosolvesecondorderellipticpartialdifferentialequations(PDEs)thatarisefrom
theproblemoftorsionofacylinder.Courant'scontributionwasevolutionary,drawingonalargebodyofearlier
resultsforPDEsdevelopedbyRayleigh,Ritz,andGalerkin.
Thefiniteelementmethodobtaineditsrealimpetusinthe1960sand1970sbythedevelopmentsofJ.H.Argyris
withcoworkersattheUniversityofStuttgart,R.W.CloughwithcoworkersatUCBerkeley,O.C.Zienkiewicz
withcoworkersErnestHinton,BruceIrons[4]andothersattheUniversityofSwansea,PhilippeG.Ciarletatthe
UniversityofParis6andRichardGallagherwithcoworkersatCornellUniversity.Furtherimpetuswasprovided

intheseyearsbyavailableopensourcefiniteelementsoftwareprograms.NASAsponsoredtheoriginalversionof
NASTRAN,andUCBerkeleymadethefiniteelementprogramSAPIV[5]widelyavailable.InNorwaytheship
classificationsocietyDetNorskeVeritas(nowDNVGL)developedSesamin1969foruseinanalysisofships.[6]
Arigorousmathematicalbasistothefiniteelementmethodwasprovidedin1973withthepublicationbyStrang
andFix.[7]Themethodhassincebeengeneralizedforthenumericalmodelingofphysicalsystemsinawide
varietyofengineeringdisciplines,e.g.,electromagnetism,heattransfer,andfluiddynamics.[8][9]

Technicaldiscussion
Thestructureoffiniteelementmethods
Finiteelementmethodsarenumericalmethodsforapproximatingthesolutionsofmathematicalproblemsthatare
usuallyformulatedsoastopreciselystateanideaofsomeaspectofphysicalreality.
Afiniteelementmethodischaracterizedbyavariationalformulation,adiscretizationstrategy,oneormore
solutionalgorithmsandpostprocessingprocedures.
ExamplesofvariationalformulationaretheGalerkinmethod,thediscontinuousGalerkinmethod,mixedmethods,
etc.
Adiscretizationstrategyisunderstoodtomeanaclearlydefinedsetofproceduresthatcover(a)thecreationof
finiteelementmeshes,(b)thedefinitionofbasisfunctiononreferenceelements(alsocalledshapefunctions)and
(c)themappingofreferenceelementsontotheelementsofthemesh.Examplesofdiscretizationstrategiesarethe
hversion,pversion,hpversion,xFEM,isogeometricanalysis,etc.Eachdiscretizationstrategyhascertain
advantagesanddisadvantages.Areasonablecriterioninselectingadiscretizationstrategyistorealizenearly
optimalperformanceforthebroadestsetofmathematicalmodelsinaparticularmodelclass.
Therearevariousnumericalsolutionalgorithmsthatcanbeclassifiedintotwobroadcategoriesdirectand
iterativesolvers.Thesealgorithmsaredesignedtoexploitthesparsityofmatricesthatdependonthechoicesof
variationalformulationanddiscretizationstrategy.
Postprocessingproceduresaredesignedfortheextractionofthedataofinterestfromafiniteelementsolution.In
ordertomeettherequirementsofsolutionverification,postprocessorsneedtoprovideforaposteriorierror
estimationintermsofthequantitiesofinterest.Whentheerrorsofapproximationarelargerthanwhatis
consideredacceptablethenthediscretizationhastobechangedeitherbyanautomatedadaptiveprocessorby
actionoftheanalyst.Therearesomeveryefficientpostprocessorsthatprovidefortherealizationof
superconvergence.

IllustrativeproblemsP1andP2
Wewillillustratethefiniteelementmethodusingtwosampleproblemsfromwhichthegeneralmethodcanbe
extrapolated.Itisassumedthatthereaderisfamiliarwithcalculusandlinearalgebra.
P1isaonedimensionalproblem

where isgiven, isanunknownfunctionof ,and

isthesecondderivativeof withrespectto .

P2isatwodimensionalproblem(Dirichletproblem)

where isaconnectedopenregioninthe
planewhoseboundary is"nice"(e.g.,asmoothmanifoldora
polygon),and
and denotethesecondderivativeswithrespectto and ,respectively.
TheproblemP1canbesolved"directly"bycomputingantiderivatives.However,thismethodofsolvingthe
boundaryvalueproblem(BVP)worksonlywhenthereisonespatialdimensionanddoesnotgeneralizetohigher
dimensionalproblemsortoproblemslike
.Forthisreason,wewilldevelopthefiniteelementmethod
forP1andoutlineitsgeneralizationtoP2.
Ourexplanationwillproceedintwosteps,whichmirrortwoessentialstepsonemusttaketosolveaboundary
valueproblem(BVP)usingtheFEM.
Inthefirststep,onerephrasestheoriginalBVPinitsweakform.Littletonocomputationisusuallyrequired
forthisstep.Thetransformationisdonebyhandonpaper.
Thesecondstepisthediscretization,wheretheweakformisdiscretizedinafinitedimensionalspace.
Afterthissecondstep,wehaveconcreteformulaeforalargebutfinitedimensionallinearproblemwhosesolution
willapproximatelysolvetheoriginalBVP.Thisfinitedimensionalproblemisthenimplementedonacomputer.

Weakformulation
ThefirststepistoconvertP1andP2intotheirequivalentweakformulations.
TheweakformofP1
If solvesP1,thenforanysmoothfunction thatsatisfiesthedisplacementboundaryconditions,i.e.
and
,wehave

at

(1)
Conversely,if with
satisfies(1)foreverysmoothfunction
thenonemayshowthatthis
willsolveP1.Theproofiseasierfortwicecontinuouslydifferentiable (meanvaluetheorem),butmaybeproved
inadistributionalsenseaswell.
Wedefineanewfunction

byusingintegrationbypartsontherighthandsideof(1):

(2)

wherewehaveusedtheassumptionthat

TheweakformofP2
IfweintegratebypartsusingaformofGreen'sidentities,weseethatif solvesP2,thenwemaydefine
forany by

where denotesthegradientand denotesthedotproductinthetwodimensionalplane.Oncemore canbe

turnedintoaninnerproductonasuitablespace
of"oncedifferentiable"functionsof thatarezeroon .
Wehavealsoassumedthat
(seeSobolevspaces).Existenceanduniquenessofthesolutioncanalsobe
shown.
Aproofoutlineofexistenceanduniquenessofthesolution
Wecanlooselythinkof
tobetheabsolutelycontinuousfunctionsof
thatare at
and
(seeSobolevspaces).Suchfunctionsare(weakly)"oncedifferentiable"anditturnsoutthatthesymmetricbilinear
map thendefinesaninnerproductwhichturns
intoaHilbertspace(adetailedproofisnontrivial).On
theotherhand,thelefthandside

isalsoaninnerproduct,thistimeontheLpspace

.An

applicationoftheRieszrepresentationtheoremforHilbertspacesshowsthatthereisaunique solving(2)and
thereforeP1.Thissolutionisapriorionlyamemberof
,butusingellipticregularity,willbesmoothif
is.

Discretization
P1andP2arereadytobediscretizedwhichleadstoacommonsub
problem(3).Thebasicideaistoreplacetheinfinitedimensionallinear
problem:
Find

suchthat

withafinitedimensionalversion:
(3)Find

suchthat

Afunctionin
withzerovaluesat
theendpoints(blue),andapiecewise
linearapproximation(red)

where isafinitedimensionalsubspaceof .Therearemanypossiblechoicesfor (onepossibilityleadsto

thespectralmethod).However,forthefiniteelementmethodwetake tobeaspaceofpiecewisepolynomial
functions.

ForproblemP1
Wetaketheinterval
by:

,choose valuesof with

andwedefine

wherewedefine
and
.Observethatfunctionsin arenotdifferentiableaccordingtothe
elementarydefinitionofcalculus.Indeed,if
thenthederivativeistypicallynotdefinedatany
,
.However,thederivativeexistsateveryothervalueof andonecanusethisderivativeforthe
purposeofintegrationbyparts.

ForproblemP2
Weneed tobeasetoffunctionsof .Inthefigureontheright,wehave
illustratedatriangulationofa15sidedpolygonalregion intheplane
(below),andapiecewiselinearfunction(above,incolor)ofthispolygon
whichislinearoneachtriangleofthetriangulationthespace would
consistoffunctionsthatarelinearoneachtriangleofthechosen
triangulation.
Onehopesthatastheunderlyingtriangularmeshbecomesfinerandfiner,
thesolutionofthediscreteproblem(3)willinsomesenseconvergetothe
solutionoftheoriginalboundaryvalueproblemP2.Tomeasurethismesh
fineness,thetriangulationisindexedbyarealvaluedparameter
Apiecewiselinearfunctionintwo
whichonetakestobeverysmall.Thisparameterwillberelatedtothesize
dimensions
ofthelargestoraveragetriangleinthetriangulation.Aswerefinethe
triangulation,thespaceofpiecewiselinearfunctions mustalsochange
with .Forthisreason,oneoftenreads insteadof intheliterature.Sincewedonotperformsuchananalysis,
wewillnotusethisnotation.

Choosingabasis
Tocompletethediscretization,wemustselectabasisof .Intheonedimensionalcase,foreachcontrolpoint
wewillchoosethepiecewiselinearfunction in whosevalueis at andzeroatevery
,i.e.,

for
thisbasisisashiftedandscaledtentfunction.Forthetwodimensionalcase,wechooseagain
onebasisfunction pervertex ofthetriangulationoftheplanarregion .Thefunction istheunique
functionof whosevalueis at andzeroatevery
.
Dependingontheauthor,theword"element"in"finiteelementmethod"referseithertothetrianglesinthe
domain,thepiecewiselinearbasisfunction,orboth.Soforinstance,anauthorinterestedincurveddomainsmight
replacethetriangleswithcurvedprimitives,andsomightdescribetheelementsasbeingcurvilinear.Ontheother
hand,someauthorsreplace"piecewiselinear"by"piecewisequadratic"oreven"piecewisepolynomial".The
authormightthensay"higherorderelement"insteadof"higherdegreepolynomial".Finiteelementmethodisnot
restrictedtotriangles(ortetrahedrain3d,orhigherordersimplexesinmultidimensionalspaces),butcanbe
definedonquadrilateralsubdomains(hexahedra,prisms,orpyramidsin3d,andsoon).Higherordershapes
(curvilinearelements)canbedefinedwithpolynomialandevennonpolynomialshapes(e.g.ellipseorcircle).
ExamplesofmethodsthatusehigherdegreepiecewisepolynomialbasisfunctionsarethehpFEMandspectral
FEM.

Moreadvancedimplementations(adaptivefiniteelementmethods)utilizea
methodtoassessthequalityoftheresults(basedonerrorestimationtheory)
andmodifythemeshduringthesolutionaimingtoachieveapproximate
solutionwithinsomeboundsfromthe'exact'solutionofthecontinuum
problem.Meshadaptivitymayutilizevarioustechniques,themostpopular
are:
movingnodes(radaptivity)
refining(andunrefining)elements(hadaptivity)
changingorderofbasefunctions(padaptivity)
combinationsoftheabove(hpadaptivity).

InterpolationofaBessel
function

16scaledandshiftedtriangular
basisfunctions(colors)usedto
reconstructazeroethorderBessel
functionJ0(black).

Smallsupportofthebasis
Theprimaryadvantageofthischoiceofbasisisthattheinnerproducts

and
Thelinearcombinationofbasis
functions(yellow)reproducesJ0
(blue)toanydesiredaccuracy.

willbezeroforalmostall .(Thematrixcontaining
inthe
locationisknownastheGramianmatrix.)Intheonedimensionalcase,the
supportof istheinterval
.Hence,theintegrandsof
and
areidenticallyzerowhenever
.
Similarly,intheplanarcase,if and
triangulation,thentheintegrals

donotshareanedgeofthe

and
Solvingthetwodimensionalproblem
inthediskcentered
attheoriginandradius1,withzero
boundaryconditions.
(a)Thetriangulation.

arebothzero.

Matrixformoftheproblem
Ifwewrite

and

thenproblem(3),taking

,becomes
for

(4)

for

Ifwedenoteby and thecolumnvectors

,andifwelet

and

and

bematriceswhoseentriesare

(b)ThesparsematrixLofthe
discretizedlinearsystem

and

thenwemayrephrase(4)as
(5)
Itisnotnecessarytoassume
,problem(3)with
simpler,sincenomatrix

.Forageneralfunction
for

becomesactually

(c)Thecomputedsolution,

isused,

,(6)
where

and

for

Aswehavediscussedbefore,mostoftheentriesof and arezerobecausethebasisfunctions havesmall

support.Sowenowhavetosolvealinearsystemintheunknown wheremostoftheentriesofthematrix ,
whichweneedtoinvert,arezero.
Suchmatricesareknownassparsematrices,andthereareefficientsolversforsuchproblems(muchmoreefficient
thanactuallyinvertingthematrix.)Inaddition, issymmetricandpositivedefinite,soatechniquesuchasthe
conjugategradientmethodisfavored.Forproblemsthatarenottoolarge,sparseLUdecompositionsandCholesky
decompositionsstillworkwell.Forinstance,MATLAB'sbackslashoperator(whichusessparseLU,sparse
Cholesky,andotherfactorizationmethods)canbesufficientformesheswithahundredthousandvertices.
Thematrix isusuallyreferredtoasthestiffnessmatrix,whilethematrix

isdubbedthemassmatrix.

Generalformofthefiniteelementmethod
Ingeneral,thefiniteelementmethodischaracterizedbythefollowingprocess.
Onechoosesagridfor .Intheprecedingtreatment,thegridconsistedoftriangles,butonecanalsouse
squaresorcurvilinearpolygons.

Then,onechoosesbasisfunctions.Inourdiscussion,weusedpiecewiselinearbasisfunctions,butitisalso
commontousepiecewisepolynomialbasisfunctions.
Aseparateconsiderationisthesmoothnessofthebasisfunctions.Forsecondorderellipticboundaryvalue
problems,piecewisepolynomialbasisfunctionthataremerelycontinuoussuffice(i.e.,thederivativesare
discontinuous.)Forhigherorderpartialdifferentialequations,onemustusesmootherbasisfunctions.Forinstance,
forafourthorderproblemsuchas
,onemayusepiecewisequadraticbasisfunctionsthatare
.
Anotherconsiderationistherelationofthefinitedimensionalspace toitsinfinitedimensionalcounterpart,in
theexamplesabove .Aconformingelementmethodisoneinwhichthespace isasubspaceoftheelement
spaceforthecontinuousproblem.Theexampleaboveissuchamethod.Ifthisconditionisnotsatisfied,weobtain
anonconformingelementmethod,anexampleofwhichisthespaceofpiecewiselinearfunctionsoverthemesh
whicharecontinuousateachedgemidpoint.Sincethesefunctionsareingeneraldiscontinuousalongtheedges,
thisfinitedimensionalspaceisnotasubspaceoftheoriginal .
Typically,onehasanalgorithmfortakingagivenmeshandsubdividingit.Ifthemainmethodforincreasing
precisionistosubdividethemesh,onehasanhmethod(hiscustomarilythediameterofthelargestelementinthe
mesh.)Inthismanner,ifoneshowsthattheerrorwithagrid isboundedaboveby
,forsome
and
,thenonehasanorderpmethod.Undercertainhypotheses(forinstance,ifthedomainisconvex),a
piecewisepolynomialoforder methodwillhaveanerroroforder
.
Ifinsteadofmakinghsmaller,oneincreasesthedegreeofthepolynomialsusedinthebasisfunction,onehasap
method.Ifonecombinesthesetworefinementtypes,oneobtainsanhpmethod(hpFEM).InthehpFEM,the
polynomialdegreescanvaryfromelementtoelement.Highordermethodswithlargeuniformparecalledspectral
finiteelementmethods(SFEM).Thesearenottobeconfusedwithspectralmethods.
Forvectorpartialdifferentialequations,thebasisfunctionsmaytakevaluesin

Varioustypesoffiniteelementmethods
AEM
TheAppliedElementMethod,orAEMcombinesfeaturesofbothFEMandDiscreteelementmethod,or(DEM).

Generalizedfiniteelementmethod
Thegeneralizedfiniteelementmethod(GFEM)useslocalspacesconsistingoffunctions,notnecessarily
polynomials,thatreflecttheavailableinformationontheunknownsolutionandthusensuregoodlocal
approximation.Thenapartitionofunityisusedtobondthesespacestogethertoformtheapproximating
subspace.TheeffectivenessofGFEMhasbeenshownwhenappliedtoproblemswithdomainshaving
complicatedboundaries,problemswithmicroscales,andproblemswithboundarylayers.[10]

Mixedfiniteelementmethod
Themixedfiniteelementmethodisatypeoffiniteelementmethodinwhichextraindependentvariablesare
introducedasnodalvariablesduringthediscretizationofapartialdifferentialequationproblem.

hpFEM

ThehpFEMcombinesadaptively,elementswithvariablesizehandpolynomialdegreepinordertoachieve
exceptionallyfast,exponentialconvergencerates.[11]

hpkFEM
ThehpkFEMcombinesadaptively,elementswithvariablesizeh,polynomialdegreeofthelocalapproximationsp
andglobaldifferentiabilityofthelocalapproximations(k1)inordertoachievebestconvergencerates.

XFEM
Theextendedfiniteelementmethod(XFEM)isanumericaltechniquebasedonthegeneralizedfiniteelement
method(GFEM)andthepartitionofunitymethod(PUM).Itextendstheclassicalfiniteelementmethodby
enrichingthesolutionspaceforsolutionstodifferentialequationswithdiscontinuousfunctions.Extendedfinite
elementmethodsenrichtheapproximationspacesothatitisabletonaturallyreproducethechallengingfeature
associatedwiththeproblemofinterest:thediscontinuity,singularity,boundarylayer,etc.Itwasshownthatfor
someproblems,suchanembeddingoftheproblem'sfeatureintotheapproximationspacecansignificantly
improveconvergenceratesandaccuracy.Moreover,treatingproblemswithdiscontinuitieswithXFEMs
suppressestheneedtomeshandremeshthediscontinuitysurfaces,thusalleviatingthecomputationalcostsand
projectionerrorsassociatedwithconventionalfiniteelementmethods,atthecostofrestrictingthediscontinuities
tomeshedges.
Severalresearchcodesimplementthistechniquetovariousdegrees:1.GetFEM++2.xfem++3.openxfem++
XFEMhasalsobeenimplementedincodeslikeAltairRadioss,ASTER,MorfeoandAbaqus.Itisincreasingly
beingadoptedbyothercommercialfiniteelementsoftware,withafewpluginsandactualcoreimplementations
available(ANSYS,SAMCEF,OOFELIE,etc.).

SFEM
TheSFEM,SmoothedFiniteElementMethods,areaparticularclassofnumericalsimulationalgorithmsforthe
simulationofphysicalphenomena.Itwasdevelopedbycombiningmeshfreemethodswiththefiniteelement
method.

Spectralelementmethod
Meshfreemethods
DiscontinuousGalerkinmethods
Finiteelementlimitanalysis
Stretchedgridmethod

Linkwiththegradientdiscretisationmethod
Afewtypesoffiniteelementmethods(conforming,nonconforming,mixedfiniteelementmethods)areparticular
casesofthegradientdiscretisationmethod(GDM).HencetheconvergencepropertiesoftheGDM,whichare
establishedforaseriesofproblems(linearandnonlinearellipticproblems,linear,nonlinearanddegenerate
parabolicproblems),holdaswellfortheseparticularcasesoffiniteelementmethods.

Comparisontothefinitedifferencemethod
Thefinitedifferencemethod(FDM)isanalternativewayofapproximatingsolutionsofPDEs.Thedifferences
betweenFEMandFDMare:
ThemostattractivefeatureoftheFEMisitsabilitytohandlecomplicatedgeometries(andboundaries)with
relativeease.WhileFDMinitsbasicformisrestrictedtohandlerectangularshapesandsimplealterations
thereof,thehandlingofgeometriesinFEMistheoreticallystraightforward.
Themostattractivefeatureoffinitedifferencesisthatitcanbeveryeasytoimplement.
ThereareseveralwaysonecouldconsidertheFDMaspecialcaseoftheFEMapproach.E.g.,firstorder
FEMisidenticaltoFDMforPoisson'sequation,iftheproblemisdiscretizedbyaregularrectangularmesh
witheachrectangledividedintotwotriangles.
Therearereasonstoconsiderthemathematicalfoundationofthefiniteelementapproximationmoresound,
forinstance,becausethequalityoftheapproximationbetweengridpointsispoorinFDM.
ThequalityofaFEMapproximationisoftenhigherthaninthecorrespondingFDMapproach,butthisis
extremelyproblemdependentandseveralexamplestothecontrarycanbeprovided.
Generally,FEMisthemethodofchoiceinalltypesofanalysisinstructuralmechanics(i.e.solvingfor
deformationandstressesinsolidbodiesordynamicsofstructures)whilecomputationalfluiddynamics(CFD)
tendstouseFDMorothermethodslikefinitevolumemethod(FVM).CFDproblemsusuallyrequirediscretization
oftheproblemintoalargenumberofcells/gridpoints(millionsandmore),thereforecostofthesolutionfavors
simpler,lowerorderapproximationwithineachcell.Thisisespeciallytruefor'externalflow'problems,likeair
flowaroundthecarorairplane,orweathersimulation.

Application
Avarietyofspecializationsundertheumbrellaofthemechanical
engineeringdiscipline(suchasaeronautical,biomechanical,and
automotiveindustries)commonlyuseintegratedFEMindesignand
developmentoftheirproducts.SeveralmodernFEMpackagesinclude
specificcomponentssuchasthermal,electromagnetic,fluid,and
structuralworkingenvironments.Inastructuralsimulation,FEMhelps
tremendouslyinproducingstiffnessandstrengthvisualizationsand
alsoinminimizingweight,materials,andcosts.
FEMallowsdetailedvisualizationofwherestructuresbendortwist,
andindicatesthedistributionofstressesanddisplacements.FEM
Visualizationofhowacardeformsinan
softwareprovidesawiderangeofsimulationoptionsforcontrolling
asymmetricalcrashusingfiniteelement
thecomplexityofbothmodelingandanalysisofasystem.Similarly,
analysis.[1](http://impact.sourceforge.net)
thedesiredlevelofaccuracyrequiredandassociatedcomputational
timerequirementscanbemanagedsimultaneouslytoaddressmost
engineeringapplications.FEMallowsentiredesignstobeconstructed,refined,andoptimizedbeforethedesignis
manufactured.
Thispowerfuldesigntoolhassignificantlyimprovedboththestandardofengineeringdesignsandthe
methodologyofthedesignprocessinmanyindustrialapplications.[12]TheintroductionofFEMhassubstantially
decreasedthetimetotakeproductsfromconcepttotheproductionline.[12]Itisprimarilythroughimprovedinitial
prototypedesignsusingFEMthattestinganddevelopmenthavebeenaccelerated.[13]Insummary,benefitsofFEM

includeincreasedaccuracy,enhanceddesignandbetterinsightintocriticaldesignparameters,virtualprototyping,
fewerhardwareprototypes,afasterandlessexpensivedesigncycle,increasedproductivity,andincreased
revenue.[12]
FEAhasalsobeenproposedtouseinstochasticmodellingfornumericallysolvingprobabilitymodels.[14][15]

Seealso
Appliedelementmethod
Boundaryelementmethod
Computerexperiment
Directstiffnessmethod
Discontinuitylayoutoptimization
Discreteelementmethod
Finitedifferencemethod
Finiteelementmachine
Finiteelementmethodinstructuralmechanics
Finitevolumemethod
Finitevolumemethodforunsteadyflow
Intervalfiniteelement
Isogeometricanalysis
LatticeBoltzmannmethods
Listoffiniteelementsoftwarepackages
Movablecellularautomaton
Multidisciplinarydesignoptimization
Multiphysics
Patchtest
RayleighRitzmethod
Spacemapping
Weakenedweakform

References
1.Reddy,J.N.(2006).AnIntroductiontotheFiniteElementMethod(Thirded.).McGrawHill.ISBN9780071267618.
2.Hrennikoff,Alexander(1941)."Solutionofproblemsofelasticitybytheframeworkmethod".Journalofapplied
mechanics.8.4:169175.
3.Courant,R.(1943)."Variationalmethodsforthesolutionofproblemsofequilibriumandvibrations".Bulletinofthe
AmericanMathematicalSociety.49:123.doi:10.1090/s000299041943078184.
4.Hinton,ErnestIrons,Bruce(July1968)."Leastsquaressmoothingofexperimentaldatausingfiniteelements".Strain.
4:2427.doi:10.1111/j.14751305.1968.tb01368.x.
5."SAPIVSoftwareandManuals".NISEEeLibrary,TheEarthquakeEngineeringOnlineArchive.
6.GardPaulsenHkonWithAndersenJohnPetterCollettIverTangenStensrud(2014).BuildingTrust,Thehistoryof
DNV18642014.Lysaker,Norway:DinamoForlagA/S.pp.121,436.ISBN9788280712561.
7.Strang,GilbertFix,George(1973).AnAnalysisofTheFiniteElementMethod.PrenticeHall.ISBN0130329460.
8.Zienkiewicz,O.C.Taylor,R.L.Zhu,J.Z.(2005).TheFiniteElementMethod:ItsBasisandFundamentals(Sixthed.).
ButterworthHeinemann.ISBN0750663200.
9.Bathe,K.J.(2006).FiniteElementProcedures.Cambridge,MA:KlausJrgenBathe.ISBN097900490X.
10.Babuka,IvoBanerjee,UdayOsborn,JohnE.(June2004)."GeneralizedFiniteElementMethods:MainIdeas,Results,
andPerspective".InternationalJournalofComputationalMethods.1(1):67103.doi:10.1142/S0219876204000083.
11.P.Solin,K.Segeth,I.Dolezel:HigherOrderFiniteElementMethods,Chapman&Hall/CRCPress,2003
12.Hastings,J.K.,Juds,M.A.,Brauer,J.R.,AccuracyandEconomyofFiniteElementMagneticAnalysis,33rdAnnual
NationalRelayConference,April1985.

13.McLarenMercedes(2006)."McLarenMercedes:FeatureStresstoimpress".Archivedfromtheoriginalon200610
30.Retrieved20061003.
14.PengLongWangJinliangZhuQiding(19May1995)."Methodswithhighaccuracyforfiniteelementprobability
computing".JournalofComputationalandAppliedMathematics.59(2):181189.doi:10.1016/03770427(94)00027X.
15.Haldar,AchintyaMahadevan,Sankaran(2000).ReliabilityAssessmentUsingStochasticFiniteElementAnalysis.John
Wiley&Sons.ISBN9780471369615.

Furtherreading
G.AllaireandA.Craig:NumericalAnalysisandOptimization:AnIntroductiontoMathematicalModelling
andNumericalSimulation
K.J.Bathe:Numericalmethodsinfiniteelementanalysis,PrenticeHall(1976).
J.Chaskalovic,FiniteElementsMethodsforEngineeringSciences,SpringerVerlag,(2008).
O.C.Zienkiewicz,R.L.Taylor,J.Z.Zhu:TheFiniteElementMethod:ItsBasisandFundamentals,
ButterworthHeinemann,(2005).

Externallinks
IFER(http://homepage.usask.ca/~ijm451/finite/fe_resources/)InternetFiniteElementResourcesDescribes
andprovidesaccesstofiniteelementanalysissoftwareviatheInternet.
NAFEMS(http://www.nafems.org)TheInternationalAssociationfortheEngineeringAnalysis
Community
MathematicsoftheFiniteElementMethod(http://math.nist.gov/mcsd/savg/tutorial/ansys/FEM/)
FiniteElementMethodsforPartialDifferentialEquations(http://people.maths.ox.ac.uk/suli/fem.pdf)
LecturenotesbyEndreSli
[2](https://hal.archivesouvertes.fr/hal01382358v2/document)DescribestheconvergenceoftheGradient
DiscretisationMethodonvariousproblems.
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