TMA373 / MMG801 Partial differential equations, first course

Content of this page: lectures, exercises, computer assignments , files and summaries, as well as previous exams
Student representatives are listed at the end of the page.

Information 

CourseInfo.pdf (05.01.24). Please read this before we start.
ExamInfo.pdf (05.01.24). Information from Chalmers on examination can be found here

Lectures and exercises are planned to be given on campus.

If David cannot give the lecture on campus, I'll contact you via Canvas. Then, please use the zoom link for the lecture: https://chalmers.zoom.us/j/69859657554 pwd: 31415.
If Michael cannot give the exercises on campus, he will contact you via Canvas. Then, please use the zoom link for the exercises: https://chalmers.zoom.us/j/66384775046 pwd 689581.

TA: Michael Roop. Office hours: Wednesdays 10-16.

Piazza Discussion Forum:
We will be using Piazza for class discussion.
The system is highly catered to getting you help fast and efficiently from classmates, the TA, and myself. Rather than emailing questions to the teaching staff, I encourage you to post your questions on Piazza.

In order to encourage your active participation, a student will earn 1 bonus point at the exam if she/he, at least, posts one question and answers two questions. The questions/answers must be relevant to the course.

Students can also ask questions anonymously (such questions cannot be counted for a bonus point). 

Find our class signup link at: https://piazza.com/chalmers.se/spring2024/tma373
Youtube introduction here: link

Link to our piazza page (password 31415): https://piazza.com/chalmers.se/spring2024/tma373

If you have any problems or feedback for the developers, email team@piazza.com.
If one of you wants to initiate and organise a discord discussion for a group of students, please fee free to do so!!

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Summaries and various files

Chapter1.pdf (15.01.24)
Chapter2.pdf (19.01.24)
Chapter3.pdf (25.01.24)
Chapter4.pdf (30.01.24)
Chapter5.pdf (02.02.24)
Chapter6.pdf (08.02.24)
Chapter7.pdf (11.02.24)
Chapter8.pdf (15.02.24)
Chapter9.pdf (19.02.24)
Chapter10.pdf (22.02.24)
Chapter11.pdf (23.02.24)
Chapter12.pdf (28.02.24)
Chapter13.pdf (29.02.24)

intro.pdf (05.01.24)
Photos and infos on some mathematicians (05.01.24)

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Lectures

The schedule of the course is in TimeEdit.
The below displayed sections are from the book An Introduction to the Finite Element Method for Differential Equations (2020).
Link to the book (via Chalmers library): https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.proxy.lib.chalmers.se/doi/book/10.1002/9781119671688 
GU students can get access to the (physical and online) Chalmers library, please visit the library to get more information on how to.
Observe that the notes are from 2021 and 2022. They may (will) differ from this year's lecture.
This table is listed as an indication and may be subject to change.

Day Sections Content (2023) Content (2023) Content (2021-2022) Notes 2021 Notes 2022
Jan 15 1.1-1.2, 1.5
Classification of PDEs, derivation of heat and wave equations Classification of PDEs, derivation of heat and wave equations Classification of PDEs, derivation of heat and wave equations Note1 Note1
Jan 17 2.1,2.2
Vector spaces, Spaces differentiable-and integrable functions, Sobolev spaces Vector spaces, Spaces differentiable-and integrable functions, Sobolev spaces Vector spaces, n differentiable-and integrable functions, Sobolev spaces Note2 Note2
Jan 18 2.3, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7  Basic inequalities,
Riesz and Lax-Milgram theorems
Basic inequalities,
Riesz and Lax-Milgram theorems
Basic inequalities, power of abstraction, Riesz and Lax-Milgram theorems Note3 Note3
Jan 19 3.2, 3.3
Polynomial approximation, Lagrange interpolation Polynomial approximation, Lagrange interpolation Polynomial approximation, Forward Euler for IVP, Galerkin for BVP, Finite difference Note4 Note4

Jan 22

3.5

Lagrange interpolation

Numerical integration, quadrature rule

Preliminaries, Lagrange interpolation Note5 Note5
Jan 25 3.7

PW linear interpolation. Numerical integration/quadrature rules.

IVP and forward Euler for IVP

Numerical integration, quadrature rule Note6 Note6
Jan 29 5.1, 5.2

IVP and forward Euler for IVP.

Galerkin for BVP. Finite element method (FEM), error estimates in energy norm

Finite element method (FEM), error estimates in energy norm Note7 Note7
Feb 01 5.3
FEM for elastic deformation of a bar FEM for convection-diffusion-absorption BVPs FEM for convection-diffusion-absorption BVPs Note8 Note8
Feb 02 6.1-6.3

A priori-error estimates in energy norm

A posteriori-error estimates in energy norm

A posteriori error estimates for cG(1), adaptivity IVP: solution formula, stability, FD, Galerkin methods (change probably) Note9 Note9
Feb 05 6.4

Adaptivity

FEM for further BVP

A priori error estimates A posteriori error estimates error estimates for cG(1) and dG(0), adaptivity for dG(0). (change probably) Note10 Note10
Feb 08 6.5-6.6 

Heat equation in 1d and discretisation with FEM in space and backward Euler in time

Heat equation 

A priori error estimates for dG(0) (parabolic case)
(change probably)

Note11 Note11
Feb 09 7.1
Wave eq. in 1d, conservation of energy. Discretisation with FEM in space and CN in time Wave equation Heat equation Note12 Note12
Feb 12 7.2

Green's formula in Rd.

Variational formulation of Poisson eq. in 2d.

Triangulation

Space of linear polynomials.

Approximation in several variables, construction of finite element spaces Wave equation Note13 Note13
Feb 15 7.3

Space of cont. pw linear functions.

L2 projection

Notes on implementation of FEM in 2d

Interpolation, Poisson equation, fundamental solution, stability, cG(1) error estimates Convection-Diffusion problems Note14 Note14
Feb 16 8.1-8.3
Notes on implementation of FEM in 2d PDE in higher dimensions, heat equation, stability Approximation in several variables, construction of finite element spaces Note15 Note15
Feb 19 8.4, 9.1

A priori error estimates, in the energy norm, for FEM for Poisson eq. in 2d.

Heat eq. in higher dimension

FEM for heat and wave equations in higher dimensions Interpolation, Poisson equation, fundamental solution, stability, cG(1) error estimates Note16 Note16
Feb 22 10.1
Variational formulation and FEM for heat in higher dimension. Semi-discrete error estimates. Conservation of energy for wave eq. Finite difference PDE in higher dimensions, heat equation, stability Note17 Note17
Feb 23 10.1-10.2
Variational formulation and FEM for wave eq. in higher dimension. Error estimates for wave eq. The concept of finite element. TBA FEM for heat and wave equations in higher dimensions Note18 Note18
Feb 26 TBA The concept of finite element. Higher order FE. Variational crimes. TBA TBA Note19 Note19
Feb 29 TBA Stability of time integrators. Dahlquist test equation. Finite difference TBA TBA Note20 Note20
Mar 01 Repetition Summaries (if time) and exam from 13.03.23 Repetition Repetition Note21 Note21

 

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Demonstrated exercises (with Michael) 

Below are indications of exercises that will be discussed during the sessions. This may be subject to slight changes in the ordering.
The below displayed exercises are from the book An Introduction to the Finite Element Method for Differential Equations (2020). 

Day Exercises Solution 2022 Solution 2024
Jan 24 Problem File: New_Problems.pdf  Problems 53-60. Book: 2.13, 2.15
Solutions_w1_2022.pdf  week1_2024.pdf
Jan 26 Problem File: New_Problems.pdf . Problems 6-10. Book:  3.24, 3.25
Solutions_w2_2022.pdf    week2_2024.pdf
Jan 31 Problem File: New_Problems.pdf Problems 1-3, 5. Book: 3.5-3.7, 6.11
Solutions_w3_2022.pdf  week3_2024.pdf
Feb 07 Problem File: New_Problems.pdf Problems 4, 11-20. Book: 5.3-5.8, 5.10, 5.16-5.19
Solutions_w4_2022.pdf    week4_2024.pdf
Feb 14 Problem File: New_Problems.pdf Problems 22-23, 26-27. Book: 6.14, 7.5-7.8, 8.10, 8.11

Solutions_w5_2022.pdf 

week_5_corr.pdf 

 

Feb 21 Problem File: New_Problems.pdf Problems 34-40. Book: 9.10, 9.12
Solutions_w6_2022.pdf 
Feb 28 Problem File: New_Problems.pdf Problems 43-52. Book: 10.4, 10.9, 10.16, 10.17
Solutions_w7_2022.pdf  week7_2024.pdf

 

Recommended exercises (self-study):
The below displayed exercises are from the book An Introduction to the Finite Element Method for Differential Equations (2020). 

Study Week (SW) Exercises 
SW2 1: Give a varitional formulation of -u''+u' +u=f in (0,1), with u'(0) =1 and u(1)=0.
2: Write a FEM-formulation with piecewise linear, continuous functions, and a uniform stepsize h=1/4.
3: The same as above, but with piecewise quadratic functions.
Book: 1.1-1.5, 1.11, 1.12, 1.21, 1.22
SW3 Read through iterative methods of chapter 4 (self study not included in the exam).
Book: 2.3, 3.1-3.4, 3.17-3.19
SW4,5 Book: 5.1, 5.3, 5.9, 6.3-6.6, 7.3, 7.6, 7.9
Problem File: 21 = 6.8 (book) (look at the solution in week_5_corr.pdf above and try to improve it)
SW6 Book: Problems in Chapters 8-10.

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Computer labs:

You may work in a group of 2-3 persons but hand in only one report for the group (don't forget to include all names and relevant information).
Submit your report via Canvas.

Assignment (09.01.24, update 20.02.24). Hint.pdf for the derivation of cG(2) FEM from Michael Roop (09.01.24).

File with element stiffness and mass matrices in 2D: Element matrices 2D.pdf

Templates: template_lab4.m (09.01.24), template_lab5.m (20.02.24), Chicken.txt
template-PlotSolutionHelmoltz.m, template-elementmassmatrix.m, template-plotmygrid.m, template-FEHelmoltz2D.m (09.01.24).

Literature and reference on matlab:

  1. Learning MATLAB, Tobin A. Driscoll. Provides a brief introduction to Matlab to the one who already knows computer programming. Available as e-book from Chalmers library.
  2. Physical Modeling in MATLAB 3/E, Allen B. Downey
    The book can be downloaded from the web. The book gives an introduction for those who have not programmed before. It covers basic MATLAB programming with a focus on modelling and simulation of physical systems.
  3. https://maths.dundee.ac.uk/dfg/MatlabNotes.pdf 
  4. http://ubcmatlabguide.github.io/

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Previous exams 

2024: 1st session: Exam and proposition for solutions. 2nd session: Exam and proposition for solutions. 3nd session: Exam and proposition for solutions.
2023
: 1st session: Exam and solutions. 2nd session: Exam and solutions. 3nd session: Exam and solution.
2022: 1st session: Exam and solutions. 2nd session: Exam and solutions. 3nd session: Exam and solution
2021: 1st session: Exam, Exam MVE455 and solutions. 2nd session: Exam, Exam MVE455, and solutions. 3nd session: Exam, Exam MVE455, and solution.
2020: tenta_200316.pdf, tenta_200609.pdf, tenta_KF_200316.pdf, tenta_KF_200609.pdf

2019: Ordinary Exam and solutions: tenta+sol_20190320(pdf),

2018: Ordinary Exam and solutions: tenta+sol_20180314A(pdf),

2017: Ordinary Exam and solutions: tenta+sol_2017-03-15(pdf),

2016: Ordinary Exam and solutions: tenta+sol_2016-03-16(pdf),

2015: Ordinary Exam and solutions: tenta_2015-03-18(pdf). 

Previous exams for MVE455, please see here.

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Student representatives: 

Petter Dittmer  (MPENM)
Andreas Führ (MPCAS)
Mathilda Gustafsson (MPCAS)
Anxhela Hysa (MPENM)
Lech Kazimierz Kula (TKELT)

For more infos, please see https://student.portal.chalmers.se/sv/chalmersstudier/minkursinformation/kursvardering/Sidor/Att-vara-studentrepresentant.aspx 
and https://www.chalmers.se/utbildning/dina-studier/planera-och-genomfora-studier/kursvardering/ and  https://intranet.chalmers.se/verktyg-stod/utbildning/kurs/kursvardering/