ME 428/528 — Applied Finite Element Analysis

Applied finite elements for engineers: direct, variational and weighted-residual formulations, linear stress and thermal analysis, and software labs paired with the derivations behind them. Cross-listed as BME 528, with additional expectations at the graduate level.

The labs are not driver’s-license training for a solver. Project 3 contrasts a distributed traction with the resultant point force on a heterogeneous plate, requires a strain-energy convergence study, and asks students to check whether the boundary conditions they specified are the ones the model actually enforces. Graduate students answer further questions on boundary stress and stress concentration.

That is the intended skill: diagnosing a wrong boundary condition, an inconsistent unit or an unconverged mesh: judgment about a model, rather than screenshots of a solution that happens to be right.

Assessment is homework 10%, labs 40%, midterm 25%, final 25%.