6. Advanced Finite Element Analysis
6. Advanced Finite Element Analysis
Finite Element Method (FEM) is the most powerful scheme that can be applied to solve any physical problems numerically, if they are described as initial or boundary value problems.
FEM is now widely utilized in the industrial world, however three problems have been pointed out: 1) mesh generation, an inevitable prerequisite process for FE analysis, requires considerable time and work, especially for three-dimensional cases. 2) The quality of the solution depends on the quality of mesh, however estimation of errors in the FE solution is very difficult, as is control of the mesh based on these error estimates. 3) Distortion of the mesh, which can occur in iterative FE analysis, sometimes causes failure to converge.
These problems are all related to mesh control in FEM. The goal of this research is to develop a flexible, fully automatic adaptive finite element generator in two and three dimensions, which may contribute to the progress of FEM over the next decade.
