ME 280A
Introduction to the Finite Element Method


Class Meetings
Lecture 001: TuTh 2-3:30pm, 3109 Etcheverry Hall
Discussion 101: We 5-6p, 3107 Etcheverry Hall

Instructor
Professor Panos Papadopoulos
Room 6131 Etcheverry Hall
E-mail: panos@me.berkeley.edu
Telephone: 510-642-3358
Office hours: TuWe 3:30-5p

GSI
Neil Hodge
Room 136 Hesse Hall
E-mail: nhodge@me.berkeley.edu
Telephone: 510-643-7579
Office hours: MoWe 11-12:30p

Course Handouts
Conduct of Course
Course Outline
Bibliography
Midterm examination (Fall 2009)


Course Notes
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9 (as of 12/7)

Links to Papers

C.A. Felippa. An appreciation of R. Courant's `Variational Methods for the Solution of Problems of Equilibrium and Vibrations,'1943. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, 37, pp. 2159-2187, (1994).

R.W. Clough. The Finite Element Method after Twenty-five Years: A Personal View. Computers & Structures, 12, pp. 361-370, (1980).

J.T. Oden. Historical Comments on Finite Elements. Proceedings of the ACM Conference on History of Scientific and Numeric Computation, pp. 125-130, Princeton, NJ, (1987).

G. Kron. Numerical solutions of ordinary and partial differential equations by means of equivalent circuits. Journal of Applied Physics, 16, pp. 172-186, (1945).

K.W. Morton Finite Difference and Finite Element Methods. Computer Physics Communication, 12, pp. 99-108, (1976).

B.A. Finlayson and L.E. Scriven The Method of Weighted Residuals - A Review. Applied Mechanics Reviews, 19, pp. 735-748, (1966).

M. Hoit and E.L. Wilson An Equation Numbering Algorithm based on a Minimum Front Criteria. Computers & Structures, 16, pp. 225-239, (1983).

S. Sloan. An algorithm for profile and wavefront reduction of sparse matrices. , 23, pp. 239-251, (1986).

N. Bicanic and E. Hinton. Spurious models in two-dimensional isoparametric elements. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, 14, pp. 1545-1557, (1979).

R.L. Taylor, J.C. Simo, O.C. Zienkiewicz and A.C.H. Chan. The patch test - a condition for assessing FEM convergence. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, 22, pp. 39-62, (1986).

I. Harari and T.J.R. Hughes. What are C and h?: Inequalities for the analysis and design of finite element methods. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 97, pp. 157-192, (1992).

O.C. Zienkiewicz, W.L. Wood, N.W. Hine and R.L. Taylor. A unified set of single step algorithms. Part 1: General formulation and applications. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, 20, pp. 1529-1552, (1984).

Homework Assignments
Assignment 1 (total: 60, max: 60, min: 39, mean: 53.2, s-dev: 5.7)
Assignment 2 (total: 50, max: 50, min: 38, mean: 46.8, s-dev: 3.5)
Assignment 3 (total: 60, max: 60, min: 51, mean: 56.1, s-dev: 3.0)
Assignment 4 (total: 40, max: 39, min: 18, mean: 35.4, s-dev: 5.1)
Assignment 5 (total: 60, max: 60, min: 57, mean: 59.1, s-dev: 1.0)
(For the FEAP manuals, click here)
Assignment 6 (total: 60, max: 60, min: 51, mean: 56.1, s-dev: 2.6)
Assignment 7 (total: 50, max: 50, min: 34, mean: 44.8, s-dev: 5.1)
Assignment 8 (total: 60, max: 60, min: 38, mean: 55.6, s-dev: 5.4)
Assignment 9 (total: 50, max: 50, min: 38, mean: 47.4, s-dev: 3.2)
Assignment 10 (total: 30, max: 30, min: 10, mean: 25.1, s-dev: 7.7)
Assignment 11
Assignment 12

Announcements

  • Neil's office hours on Wednesday, December 8th will be from 11:00AM to 12:30PM in 2109 Etch.
  • There will be an extra lecture on Tuesday, December 7, at the regularly scheduled time and location.
  • Neil's office hours on Monday, December 6th will be from 2:00PM to 3:30PM in 2107 Etch.
  • The discussion for Thanksgiving week will be moved from Wednesday to Tuesday, 5PM-6PM, and will take place in 1165 Etch.
  • Note a change in the deadline of Assignment Nr. 10 (it is now due on November 23rd).
  • Note a change in the deadline of Assignment Nr. 9 (it is now due on November 16th).
  • Reminder that Neil's OH and the discussion the week of 01-Nov. will be moved, as follows:
    • Monday OH: 2105 Etch
    • Wednesday OH: 2109 Etch
    • Discussion: 2109 Etch
  • Professor Papadopoulos' office hours on Wednesday, October 20, will be from 4:00pm to 4:45pm.
  • The midterm exam will take place on Wednesday, October 13, 5:10-6:30pm, in 3107 Etcheverry Hall.
  • Reminder that Neil's OH and the discussion the week of 04-Oct. will be moved, as follows:
    • Monday OH: 2105 Etch
    • Wednesday OH: 2109 Etch
    • Discussion: 2109 Etch
  • Neil's office hours on Monday, September 27 will be moved to 4:00PM-5:30PM.
  • Professor Papadopoulos' office hours on Wednesday, September 22, will be from 4 to 5pm.
  • Neil will hold his regular discussion session on Wednesday, September 15, at 5pm.


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