ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief introduction to the principle of finite element (FE) modelling and reviews the status of multi-scale modelling and the mixed-dimensional FE coupling method for large civil structures. It presents a new mixed-dimensional FE coupling method, which can achieve both displacement compatibility and stress equilibrium at the interface between the different element types, and verified for both linear and nonlinear problems. The chapter also presents a new deformable multi-point constraint (MPC) coupling method that can achieve both displacement compatibility and stress equilibrium at the interface between the different element types. The MPC method is an attractive coupling method for coupling mixed-dimensional elements by using constraint equations for nodal displacements at the interface. In structural health monitoring and structural vibration control, an accurate FE model of a civil structure is often an essential tool to facilitate sensor and control device placement, control performance assessment and damage detection, among many others.
