MATLAB Guide to Finite Elements

This is a book for people who love finite elements and MATLAB3. We will use the popular computer package MATLAB as a matrix calculator for doing finite element analysis. Problems will be solved mainly using MATLAB to carry out the tedious and lengthy matrix calculations in addition to some manual manipulations especially when applying the boundary conditions. In particular the steps of the finite element method are emphasized in this book. The reader will not find ready-made MATLAB programs for use as black boxes. Instead step-by-step solutions of finite element problems are examined in detail using MATLAB. Problems from linear elastic structural mechanics are used throughout the book. The emphasis is not on mass computation or programming, but rather on learning the finite element method computations and understanding of the underlying concepts.