ME 6302: Finite Element Theory and Applications

3 Credit Hours
An introductory course that illustrates the finite element method (FEM) as a numerical method of solving the class of problems in solid mechanics described by second and fourth-order ordinary and partial differential equations, covering the main mathematical and computational steps. The discussion involves both theoretical and practical aspects, such as strong and weak formulations of boundary-value problems, finite element spaces, approximation theory for finite element spaces, error estimates, mixed methods, effects of numerical integration and curved boundaries, nonconforming methods, time-dependent problems, data structuring, mesh generation, numerical quadrature, assembling, storage, and linear algebra.