ME 8243 midterm

Name ___________________________________

All of the following are 2 points each 1. The basis for getting the higher order terms in a triangular two dimensional element comes from what mathematical idea (hint: it came from a famous mathematician who lived before finite element analysis ever existed) Pascals Triangle 2. For the rectangular element in a 2D bending problem, spurious shear strains make the element (a) too stiff, (b) too compliant, (c) can capture the shear force very well, (d) none of the above, or (e) all of the above 3. Why would you need to employ a finite element analysis? (a) to graduate from graduate school at MSU; (b) to be able to solve a problem that analytical solutions cannot solve; (c) to help the design process; (d) to perform a failure analysis; (e) includes (b) and (c); (f) includes (b), (c), and (d); (g) all of the above; or (h) none of the above 4. Finite element analysis will give you an exact solution (True) or (False) 5. I can assume a plane of symmetry to reduce the computing cost when the geometry is accommodating for such an idea (True) or (False) 6. The discretization process where the solution domain is split into simply shaped domains called finite elements is called __meshing________. 7. In a typical quasi-static implicit finite element simulation, the following item is solved for first: (a) force, (b) strain, (c) displacement, or (d) stress. 8. Shell elements are created by meshing surfaces or faces of solid geometry and are used primarily for analyzing thin-walled structures (True or False) 9. Stiffness can be defined by the elastic modulus (True or False) 10. Symmetry boundary conditions should not be used for vibration problems (True or False) 11. Symmetry boundary conditions include (a) axisymmetry, (b) reflective symmetry, (c) rotational symmetry, (d) none of the above, or (e) all of the above. 12. How many nodes are found on a higher order tetrahedron element ________10______. 13. How many nodes are found on a first order 2D constant strain element _______3_________. 14. When the stiffness matrix is multiplied by the displacement vector, we get the ____force vector__________ 15. How many degrees of freedom are there in three dimensional space? ___6___

16. A first order element means that the shape function (a) linear, (b) quadratic, (c) exponential, (d) all of the above, or (e) none of the above. 17. Nonlinearities can arise in finite element simulations from (a) material properties, (b) boundary conditions, (c) geometries, (d) all of the above, or (e) none of the above. 18. What are the maximum stresses called at a continuum point? __principal stresses____ 19. When the stress is the same in every direction, what is that called? ___stress invariant___ 20. When mathematically mapping the second rank tensor of strain into a second rank tensor of stress, what is the common name for the mapping agent? __elastic modulus___ 21. When the same set of shape functions (i.e. Si , Sj) are used to approximate both the displacement and the geometry, it is called isoparametric element. 22. A beam element is used for one dimensional solutions? True or false 23. Defeaturing is the removal detailed features related to design / manufacture that may play no role for the analysis. (True or false) 24. Pick the best mesh below (f)

25. One way to accomplish a mesh refinement without remeshing is to change the element from a first order element to a second order element. (true or false) All of the following are 3 points each: 1. What are the three components of any finite element simulation? pre-processor, processor, postprocessor

2. Fill in the missing subscripts for the stress tensor identified below:

3. The benefits of employing symmetry boundary conditions when they are appropriate are the following: __reduce CPU time___, __simplifies the modeling effort___, and __sanity check for solution_ 4. What is the benefit and risk of using the von Mises stress as a metric for a finite element analysis? Benefit: it reduces all of the stress components into one unit and if the problem is deviatoric oriented it is good Risk: if failure is analyzed then the von Mises stress is not a good criterion 5. What is the difference between the CAD model, mathematical model, and FEA model? CAD model: focuses on the geometry Math model: must properly represent those aspects of the design that are of interest (data of interest) that includes the kinematics, geometry, and constitutive model FEA model: the complete geometric mesh, constitutive equations, boundary conditions/loads; essentially everything that is ready to run a calculation

All of the following are 5 points each: 1. In words what is the path of the solver in a quasi-static direct method finite element analysis. List the steps in order

1. make assumptions 2. determine element 3. get stiffness matrix, 4. Apply boundary conditions, 5. Solve for displacements, 6. Solve for the strain using strain-displacement equations, and 7. Solve for the stress using the stress-strain (constitutive) equations)

2. Describe the similarities and differences between an implicit quasi-static code and explicit hydrodynamic code in terms of their make-up and what kinds of problems they solve. Similarities: both FEM codes, can solve some dynamic inertial problems, can solve some quasi-static problems, can use the same constitutive equations, can be 1D, 2D, or 3D Differences: implicit code: solves f=kx, great for static or inertial dynamic problems and explicit codes: solves f=ma, great for shock waves and some inertial dynamic problems

3. If I had an I-Beam in bending, what are the positives and negatives for running a FEA using (a) solid continuum element, (b) shell element, and (c) beam element. (a) solid: pos=more correct answer, neg=more cost (b) shell: pos=ave cost, fairly good answer, neg=not as accurate as continuum (c) beam: pos=least cost, fastest, neg=worst answer 4. Explain clearly what each of these errors mean: (a) modeling errors: simplifying assumptions made in the formulation of the math model like using the wrong element type (b) discretizations errors: differences between the real structure and the mesh and not appropriating the correct element size in regions of notches (c) solution errors: process of solving the numerical integration of the finite element simulations (d) post-processing errors: misinterpretation of results or inaccurate interpolation functions used (e) validation errors: differences of simulation to real world experimental values 5. For a one dimensional elastic bar with two nodes explain in detail using matrix notation and an interpolation function the steps in getting the stiffness matrix. Interpolation functions are the following: N1=x-x2/(x1-x2)

N2=x-x1/(x2-x1) The derivatives of the interpolation functions are required B=[dN1/dx dN2/dx] The cross sectional Area, A, can be determined from the geometry, and E is the elastic modulus.
x2

The stiffness matrix then equals k=

x1

BTAEB dx

6. Label the element types below:

7. What are the stresses and strains would arise for a plane strain element for the simple geometry below:

Plane strain: Stresses: all components are nonzero to start, but since only yy is applied, it will be the only stress component but zz will be nonzero because the zz is zero and constraining. Strains: zz, zx, zy are zero to start and xx, yy, xy are nonzero, but under uniaxial loading only xx, yy will be nonzero

7. What is the difference between the plane stress and plane strain elements in terms of the stress and strain components? Plane Stress: the plane stress element can be used when there is a thin plate and if the plane is the x-y coordinate system then the z-direction stresses (zz, zx ,zy) are zero while the others are not and all of the strain components are non-zero Plane Strain: the plane strain element can be used when there is a thick continuum point and if the cross section is the x-y coordinate system then the z-direction strains (zz, zx ,zy) through the thick length are zero while the others are not and all of the stress components are non-zero