Course Syllabus

MECH 417/517 Finite Element Analysis

Spring of 2009

General Information

Class hours: Tuesday & Thursday, 1:00 - 1:50 PM, MEB 241

Office hours: MWF 2:00 - 3:00 PM, & TT 2:30-3:00, MEB 221 or by appointment

web-site: http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~mech517

Instructor

Prof. Ed Akin

Office: Mechanical Engineering Building, Room 221

Phone: (713) 348-4879

Email: akin@rice.edu

Course Description

PENDING

Recommended Textbook

G.R. Buchanan, Finite Element Analysis, McGraw-Hill, 1995.

Reference Books

J.E. Akin, Finite Elements Analysis with Error Estimators,Elsevier, 2005 http://www.mems.rice.edu/~akin/Elsevier/.

J.E. Akin, CosmosWorks Displayed: Theory & Applications,(Linked PDF), 2008 http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~mech403/DemoFiles/Cosmosworks_Displayed.pdf.

T.J.R. Hughes, The Finite Element Method, Dover, 2000.

Notation

On line http://www.mems.rice.edu/~akin/Elsevier/Notation.pdf

Grading

Homework 65%

Test #1 10% (take-home)

Test #2 10% (take-home)

Final Exam 15% (take home)

Homework Policy

Homework will be assigned on the last class of the week (usually Thursday). It will be due, in hardcopy form, on the last class of the following week (usually the next Thursday). Homework is meant as an exercise and you are encouraged to consult anyone (students, teaching assistants, me) and anything (notes, books, your own experiments) if it helps you to understand the material. However, you may not consult another person's solution to any given problem or solutions from past years.

Exam Policy

The midterm exam will be assigned on a Thursday and will be due at the beginning of the next Wednesday class. The final exam will be assinged on the last day of classes and due at the end of the finals period. Tests are taken under the Rice Honor Code system. You may only consult the textbook, any materials posted on the website, any software used in class, and any notes that you have personally taken. You may use a calculator, including programmable calculators. The test must be taken during a 3-hour period, with an optional single 30-minute break.

Course Calendar 2009

Jan 6 Organization, Introduction

Jan 8 Introduction, Integral Forms

Jan 13 Stationary value. Gather/Scatter

Jan 15 CosmosWorks software demonstration

Jan 20 1-D C^0 interpolation

Jan 22 1-D C^1 interpolation

Jan 27 Bar: displacement, temperature, twist

Jan 29 Example 1-D Matlab source codes.

Feb 3 Classic C^1 cubic beam

Feb 5 Quintic beams, C^1 and C^2

Feb 10 Beam on elastic foundation

Feb 12 Example Matlab quintic beam source

Feb 17 Review (Takehome test1) __________

Feb 19 Isoparametric interpolation, triangles

Feb 24 Isoparametric interpolation, quadrilaterals

Feb 26 General stress analysis

Mar 2-6 No Class, Spring Break

Mar 10 Plane stress analysis

Mar 12 Plane stress, boundary integrals

Mar 17 Dynamic stress analysis. Mass matrix

Mar 19 Plane strain. Review (Takehome test 2) __________

Mar 24 Heat conduction & convection, 2D

Mar 26 Boundary matrix integration

Mar 31 Transient heat transfer

Apr 2 No class, break

Apr 7 Transient analysis. Dynamic analysis

Apr 9 Eigen value, eigen vector problems

Apr 14 Vibrations

Apr 17 Buckling. Review (take home final)

Students with disabilities

Any student with a disability requiring accommodations in this course is encouraged to contact me after class or during office hours. Additionally, students should contact Disabled Student Services at the Ley Student Center.