Announcements

  • For a general overview of the course, download the Course Policies given below.
  • Deadlines for homework assignments will be posted here.
  • See Downloading Course Materials below if you are not sure how to view the course materials.


Course Policies:PDF, PS

Text: Finite Element Solution of Boundary Value Problems: Theory and Computation (SIAM Series Classics in Applied Mathematics, a republication) by O. Axelsson and V.A. Barker.

Topics for the Course

  1. Two Lectures from Dr.Curt Vogel on Multigrid Methods
  2. Finish up Finite Differences for Elliptic BVPs
  3. The Finite Element Method (Axelsson)
    • Preliminaries and An Example
    • Variational Formulation of Elliptic Boundary
      Value Problems
    • Natural and Essential Boundary Conditions
    • Numerical Implementations for these
  4. Lecture Notes from Gunzburger and Peterson.

Homework Assignments

Homework 1: Assigned by Curt.
Homework 2: PDF, PS
Homework 3: PDF, PS
Homework 4: PDF, PS
Midterm Exam: PDF, PS
Homework 5: PDF, PS
Homework 6: PDF, PS
Homework 7: PDF, PS
HW7 Notes: PDF, PS
Final Exam:

Computer Lab Work

Lab 1:

HW5: gauss.m, shape.m

HW7: FEM_1d.m, oned_bilinear.m, oned_f_int.m, oned_gauss.m, oned_mesh.m,
oned_shape.m, nbc_ex.m

Supplementary Texts:

  1. The Mathematical Theory of Finite Element Methods (Springer) by S. Brenner and L.R. Scott
  2. Numerical Solution of Partial Differential Equations by the Finite Element Method (Cambridge University Press) by C. Johnson

Numerical Analysis of Partial Differential Equations (Prentice Hall) by C.A. Hall and T.A. Porsching

Students are NOT required to buy the supplementary texts. Occasionally, I will cover topics and include material from these texts.

Downloading Course Materials

Many of the Course Materials above must be downloaded in one of the given file formats (Postscript, PDF or DVI).

If you download the PDF version, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print the document. Relax, the Reader is free and can be downloaded from the following site. Just click on the `Get Acrobat Reader' icon to the right, then click on the link `Get Acrobat Reader Free' and follow the directions.

Ghostscript LogoIf you prefer to download the PS (Postscript) version, you will need Ghostscript or GSView. This is also free software. Just click on the icon to the right and follow the directions. Note, I think you will need a version of WinZip or another program to decompress or `unzip' some of the downloaded files. Personally, I think the Acrobat Reader is a little easier to work with, but it is up to you. Note, if you are working on a UNIX machine, you can print Postscript files from the prompt. Check with your local computer guru or systems administrator before you download programs that are not needed.

If you are downloading the DVI version, then I assume you are familiar with a UNIX platform and know how to use XDVI to view DVI documents or that you have a viewer associated with a typesetting program such as OzTeX or PCTeX.

Computer Resources

I will give you more information on computer assignments as the course progresses. In the meantime, there are some computer resources listed below. There are also a few listed on my `Useful Links' Page which can be accessed from the Navigation Bar above.

Stanley

 

You may require Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the PDFs on this page.

Updated on: 01/09/05.