Critical features of the finite element method

✍ Scribed by R.J. Melosh

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1976
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 875 KB
• Volume: 302
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-0032
• DOI: 10.1016/0016-0032(76)90038-7

✦ Synopsis

This paper examines the essential features of finite element analysis and identifies the inherent limitations of the method. It defines those aspects of finite element analysis which are common to all applications of the method. It discusses and compares the requirements and form of element models for computer simulation of structural networks and continua. It generalizes the terminology to clarify use of the method for a variety of physical systems. The perspective of the paper is that the finite element method is a discipline and problem invariant technique for synthesizing models of any engineering system; that it encompasses a wide variety of analysis objectives including developing exact, approximate, and bounding response predictions; that it can be fleshed into a variational, weighted residual, finite differenence, or a semi-empirical analysis method; and that its intrinsic limitations on fidelity rest on the relevance of physical measurements and constitutive laws hung on its framework.