Syllabus

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Week 14

Week 15
(optional)

From intuitional perception to the mathematical formulation of engineering

problems; examples.

Choice of assumptions and mathematical tools to formulate problems.

Classes of solution methods (overview):

Analytical solutions, approximate solutions, direct approximation, approximate

solution after transformation of the problem.

Classes of physical problems: Discrete systems, continuous systems.

Equilibrium, eigenvalue, and propagation problems.

Integral forms.

Weak formulation of problems.

The Method of Weighted Residuals.

Introduction to variational calculus.

Functionals.

Functionals associated with an integral form.

The stationarity principle.

Stationarity conditions.

Examples from mechanics.

The method of Lagrange multipliers.

Mixed and complementary formulations.

Catalogue of functionals used in continuum mechanics and their specific features.

Discretisation of integral forms.

Collocation by points.

Collocation by subdomains.

Galerkin's method.

Least Squares Method.

Examples.

Ritz' method.

Examples.

Numerical integration.

Newton-Cotes method.

Gauss method.

Examples.

The Finite Element Method.

Shape functions, construction of finite elements.

Matrix representation in the FEM.

Stiffness matrix.

Boundary conditions.

Examples from structural engineering.

Software packages in engineering.