ABSTRACT
The finite-element method is widely used in structural analysis. The method is also used in a wide range of physical problems including heat transfer, seepage, flow of fluids, and electrical and magnetic potential. The displacement method of analysis is applicable to structures composed of finite elements which may be one, two, or three-dimensional. The analysis requires the generation of stiffness and stress matrices and of load vectors for individual elements. The chapter mainly deals with the generation of matrices for finite elements other than bars. The element matrices required are: the stiffness matrix, relating nodal forces to nodal displacements; the stress matrix, relating the stress or internal forces at any point within an element to its nodal displacements; and vectors of restraining nodal forces for use when the external forces are applied away from the nodes or when the element is subjected to temperature variation.
