Course syllabus
Welcome to FEM Basics (VSM167). My name is Knut Andreas Meyer and I will be the main lecturer and examiner. I look forward to teach you the fundamentals of the finite element method during this term, preparing you for both your future career and more advanced courses here at Chalmers!
Course syllabus and information: Course memo.pdf
Schedule: TimeEdit
Material: Lecture notebooks (continuously updated)
Uploaded lecture notes (typically handwritten) will be made available under the lecture notes module after each lecture.
BasicFEM starting package: BasicFEM.zip (updated 2025-12-01) (MATLAB R2022b or later required)
Fixes/updates (included in the updated zip-file for reference):
- [20251106] `src/elements/`: `linear_triangle_heat_flux.m` and `bilinear_quadrilateral_heat_flux.m` - output in docstring should be `q`, not `sig`
- [20251110] `src/quadrature/quadrilateral_quadrature`: Size of output should be `nquadpoints^2` (not `nquadpoints`. Also added this more precisely in `src/elements`: `bilinear_quadrilateral_elastic_stress.m` and `bilinear_quadrilateral_heat_flux.m`)
- [20251117]
- `src/shape_functions/vectorize_shape_values.m`: Error message should say "N must be of size [1, num_scalar_shapefunctions]" (previously said "[1, dim]")
-
`src/elements/linear_triangle_elastic_element.m` and ``src/elements/bilinear_quadrilateral_elastic_element.m`: Typo in docstring, it said "due to heat source" but should be "due to body load"
- [20251118]: If you are missing simulink, the provided function `mesh/create_facet_sets.m` (called from `generate_mesh` and `read_mesh`) will give an error like "boolean not defined". To fix this, please replace `create_facet_sets.m` with the updated create_facet_sets.m
- [20251201]: Added the testscripts.zip folder, including a script to check the implementation of key routines used in CA1. Note that your `src` directory and subfolders must be available in the matlab path for this script to work.
Formula sheet: FormulaSheet.pdf (updated 2025-12-01)
Tasks