CEE5155: FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF

Fall 2018
STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS

Final Term Exam

1. Open book and open notes.
2. Use of electronic devices is NOT allowed.
Duration: 3:00 hours

1. Find the internal forces and node deflections of the rigid frame structure shown below. Neglect shear
deformations. Assume EI = 15 x 106 lb-in2 and AE = 45 x 106 lbs.

Figure 1. Frame for problem 1

2. Figure 2 shows a four node quadrilateral. The (x, y) coordinates of each node are given in the figure. The
element displacement vector is q = [ 1, 0, 0.15, 0, 0.2, 0.35, 0, 0.08] T. Find (a) the x-, y-coordinates
of a point P whose location in the parent element is given by (1,1) and (b) the u, v displacements of the
point P.

Figure 2

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3. (a) Using Lagrange interpolation, write down the trial solution of a cubic element of length 18 units
where the nodes are located at equal distances.
(b) Write down an explicit expression for Isoparametric mapping of a three node element with x 1 = 0, x2 =
7, and x3 =12. Show the validity of the mapping.
(c) Derive shape functions for an 8 node quadrilateral element where x varies from 0 to 24 and y varies from
0 to 12. The inner nodes are located at the center of each side.

(d) Evaluate 𝐼 = ∫ ∫ (4𝑥 𝑦 + 10𝑥𝑦 ) 𝑑𝑥𝑑𝑦 using a 2 x 2 Gauss quadrature.

4. A triangular support bracket is shown in Figure 3. The bracket is modeled as a plane stress problem,
which is discretized into a two elements with 4 nodes. The thickness of the bracket is t=10 mm, the
Young’s modulus, E=70,000 MPa and the Poisson’s ratio,  = 0.3.
1. Find the displacements at Node 2.
2. Find the stress and the displacement vector at the center of the second element.

Y 30 mm

100 N
4 50 N
1
1

2
20 mm 2

10 mm
X
3

15 mm

Figure 3

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