Finite Element Methods

Abstract

More than ten years ago, the finite element method, a modern, systematic numerical method for solving differential equations, was created and developed independently and along different lines in China^[6] and the West. Its original purpose was to solve for equilibria and stable configurations, i.e. to solve elliptic equations. It has stood a large number of practical tests, and, in particular, has been used widely in the field of elastic structures with remarkable success. Recently, with the aid of computers, the finite element method has been applied to almost all fileds of engineering and to many fields of science and technology, and has become a routine means for modern engineering analysis. It is an important achievement of modern computational mathematics.