Introduction to finite elements
Also listed as: מבוא לאלמנטים סופיים
The most transferable single course in the catalogue. Direct stiffness through weak forms to isoparametric elements and numerical integration, so that a mesh and a contour plot mean something.
- Semester
- Semester A
- Weekly hours
- 4h
- Counts as
- Core: solids
- Interest areas
- Structures and computational mechanics · Mechanical design
Comes after
- Mechanics of solids 1
What it covers
Foundations
- Direct stiffness method for springs, bars and trusses, assembly and boundary conditions
- Strong form against weak form, method of weighted residuals, Galerkin
- Variational and energy principles, Rayleigh–Ritz, minimum potential energy
- One-dimensional elements: bar, Euler–Bernoulli beam with Hermite shape functions, frames
Element technology
- Shape functions and interpolation, convergence requirements, the patch test
- Two-dimensional elements: constant-strain triangle, quadratic triangles, bilinear quads
- Plane stress, plane strain and axisymmetric formulations
- Isoparametric formulation, natural coordinates, the Jacobian
- Gauss quadrature, and the failure modes: locking and hourglassing
- Three-dimensional solids, plates and shells
Using the results
- Stress recovery, error estimation, h- and p-refinement
- Steady heat conduction with the same machinery
- Introduction to eigenvalue and transient analysis
Results worth carrying out
The system you are solving
Element stiffness
Isoparametric mapping
Gauss quadrature
Figures worth knowing
- Mesh diagrams
- Shape-function plots
- von Mises stress contours
- Jacobian mapping between natural and physical coordinates
- Convergence curves under refinement
Related courses
- 0542-4011Semester A · 3h
Research project for honours students 1
פרויקט מחקר למצטיינים 1
The honours research project, and the most direct on-ramp to a thesis in the catalogue. You pick a supervisor, produce results, and frequently continue the same problem into a masters.
Structures and computational mechanicsMechatronics and roboticsMiniaturised systems and materialsAeronautics and spaceEnvironment and energyFlow and thermal designMechanical design - 0542-4012Semester B · 3h
Research project for honours students 2
פרויקט מחקר למצטיינים 2
The continuation of the honours project, where the results get deep enough to defend. Under the direct track this is already the first part of the masters thesis.
Structures and computational mechanicsMechatronics and roboticsMiniaturised systems and materialsAeronautics and spaceEnvironment and energyFlow and thermal designMechanical design - 0542-4191Semester B · 3h
Plastic forming processes in metals
מבוא לתהליכי ייצור פלסטי במתכות
Plasticity applied to forming: forging, rolling, extrusion, drawing and sheet work, with the force models and the limits that decide whether a part can be made at all.
Structures and computational mechanicsMechanical design - 0542-4220Semester A · 4h
Theory of vibrations
תורת התנודות
From one degree of freedom to continuous systems, with modal analysis in the middle. It is the course that turns "the machine shakes" into a number you can design against.
Structures and computational mechanicsMiniaturised systems and materialsAeronautics and space
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The topic outlines are not official syllabi. The university publishes a catalogue blurb per course, not lecture-by-lecture material, so each outline describes what a course of that name, at those hours, with those prerequisites teaches at engineering schools generally, cross-checked against the standard textbook for the subject. Treat it as an informed map, not as a transcript of the lectures.