Advanced Finite Element Methods

This volume on some recent aspects of finite element methods and their applications is dedicated to Ulrich Langer and Arnd Meyer on the occasion of their 60th birthdays in 2012. Their work combines the numerical analysis of finite element algorithms, their efficient implementation on state of the art hardware architectures, and the collaboration with engineers and practitioners. In this spirit, this volume contains contributions of former students and collaborators indicating the broad range of their interests in the theory and application of finite element methods.

Finite element methods have become ever more important to engineers as tools for design and optimization, now even for solving non-linear technological problems. However, several aspects must be considered for finite-element simulations which are specific for non-linear problems: These problems require the knowledge and the understanding of theoretical foundations and their finite-element discretization as well as algorithms for solving the non-linear equations.

New finite elements are needed as well in research as in industry environments for the development of virtual prediction techniques. The design and implementation of novel finite elements for specific purposes is a tedious and time consuming task, especially for nonlinear formulations. The automation of this process can help to speed up this process considerably since the generation of the final computer code can be accelerated by order of several magnitudes.

This book gives an introduction to the finite element method as a general computational method for solving partial differential equations approximately. Our approach is mathematical in nature with a strong focus on the underlying mathematical principles, such as approximation properties of piecewise polynomial spaces, and variational formulations of partial differential equations, but with a minimum level of advanced mathematical machinery from functional analysis and partial differential equations.

This book is a tutorial written by researchers and developers behind the FEniCS Project and explores an advanced, expressive approach to the development of mathematical software. The presentation spans mathematical background, software design and the use of FEniCS in applications. Theoretical aspects are complemented with computer code which is available as free/open source software. The book begins with a special introductory tutorial for beginners. Following are chapters in Part I addressing fundamental aspects of the approach to automating the creation of finite element solvers. Chapters in Part II address the design and implementation of the FEnicS software. Chapters in Part III present the application of FEniCS to a wide range of applications, including fluid flow, solid mechanics, electromagnetics and geophysics.

The book is suitable for readers with a background in basic finite element and finite difference methods for partial differential equations who wants gentle introductions to advanced topics like parallel computing, multigrid methods, and special methods for systems of PDEs. The goal of all chapters is to *compute* solutions to problems, hence algorithmic and software issues play a central role.

The Finite Element Method and Applications with ANSYS® provides the reader with theoretical and practical knowledge of the finite element method and with the skills required to analyze engineering problems with ANSYS®, a commercially available FEA program. This self-contained, introductory text minimizes the need for additional reference material, covering the fundamental topics in finite element methods, as well as advanced topics concerning modeling and analysis with ANSYS®.

This contributed volume celebrates the work of Tayfun E. Tezduyar on the occasion of his 60th birthday. The articles it contains were born out of the Advances in Computational Fluid-Structure Interaction and Flow Simulation (AFSI 2014) conference, also dedicated to Prof. Tezduyar and held at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan on March 19-21, 2014. The contributing authors represent a group of international experts in the field who discuss recent trends and new directions in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and fluid-structure interaction (FSI).