ABSTRACT
Global equilibrium is required of an assembly of elements that represent a region of interest. Assembly of elements is accomplished essentially by addition of element node forces to obtain the total force at a node in the assembly. The actual assembly process is mainly shifting stiffnesses from local to global positions followed by addition. The local row and column numbers are given global values through an array NODnel, j, where the value of the expression is the global node number of an element nel with local node j. This array is usually generated automatically by a special program for doing so in advance of an analysis. This chapter shows the two-element array before and after assembly with local and global node numbers. It presents an outline of programming for assembly of the global stiffness matrix. The chapter outlines programming for such a scheme, which has the advantage of minimizing bandwidth while allowing for arbitrary global numbering of nodes.
