Topic outline

  • COE-C3005 Finite Difference and Finite Element Methods

         


    Introduction to approximate methods for initial and boundary value problems in solid mechanics. After the course, student understands the physical background of the bar and string model problems, knows the basic ideas of (1) particle surrogate, (2) finite difference, (3) finite element methods, is able to apply the methods to the model problems (1D), and knows the extensions to the thin slab and membrane models of solid mechanics (2D).

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      Responsible teacher: Jouni Freund (JF)

      Teacher: Mari Åman (MÅ)   

                    

      COURSE SOFTWARE

      The online course of  2021 uses Zoom. Download the software and practice with the user interface unless you are familiar with it:

      https://www.aalto.fi/en/services/zoom-quick-guide

      Assignments of the course are solved by using Word and MathType text and equations editors and returned in pdf format. Download the software and be prepared to use the text-equation editor pair:

      https://www.dessci.com/en/  

      https://download.aalto.fi/index-en.html

      Mathematica notebooks of the course require Mathematica software to work. Download Mathematica in good time (it may take a few days to get the license)

      https://download.aalto.fi/index-en.html

       

      ONLINE TEACHING

      Lectures (JF & MÅ) on Tue and Wed are based on the weekly lecture notes of the home page. After a short break, lectures are followed by lecture assignments about some of the key topics of the lecture.

      Calculation examples (JF) on Thu discusses the weekly example problems of the home page. Both hand calculation and Mathematica notebooks of the course are used to explain the solutions to the example problems.

      Calculation hours (JF & MÅ) are informal meetings for instructions and questions about the home assignments. Join the meeting to solve the home assignments during the session and/or get step-by-step instructions.

       

      COURSE MATERIAL

      The weekly material consists of lecture notes, exercise problems, home assignments, and lecture assignments. The exercise material of the orientation week (week 16) consists of a modelling assignment only.

      Solutions to the modelling assignment, home assignments, and lecture assignments are graded so that the maximal points correspond to the fifth correctly solved exam problem in the final grading of the course. Participation in the final exam is possible only if the points from the graded assignments exceed half of the maximal points.

      Lecture notes are published in the home page on Monday of each week.

      Exercise problem are published in the home page on Monday of each week. Exercise problems contain answers and full solutions. Some problems may be solved during the calculation examples sessions and uploaded later to the homepage.

      Lecture assignments are published in the homepage after the lectures on Tue and Wed 10:35 and the solutions should be returned before the deadline 11:30.

      Home assignments are published in the homepage on Mon of each week and should be returned through the homepage before Sun 23:55 of the same week. Some of the problems are structured and contain templates to be completed, some are non-structured to be solved from scratch.

      Assignments are published in docx and pdf versions. With the docx versions, you can use MathType equation editor to fill the missing parts of a structured assignment or write the full solution to a non-structured assignment. Also handwriting is acceptable. However, the returned solution should be of good quality and pdf in type.

       

      FINAL EXAM

      Remote exam at the end of the course consists of four (4) problems published in the homepage at the scheduled exam time. The exam problems are given as separate assignments to be returned in the same manner as the home assignments of the course. Returning a solution through the home page is possible before the deadline (4h). There

      (1) You may use the material of the homepage,

      (2) You may use a symbolic calculator, Mathematica etc.

      (3) You are supposed to solve the problems by yourself.

      Bonus points are worth of one correctly solved exam problem. Solutions to the modelling assignment, home assignments, and lecture assignments are graded so that the maximal points correspond to the fifth correctly solved exam problem in the final grading of the course.

      Participation in the final exam is possible only if the points from the graded assignments exceed half of the maximal points


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      Grading of the assignments and exams