Affine approximation of isoparametric elements (Q1820571)

Construction of the stiffness matrix in the finite element method involves elementwise integrations. When isoparametric elements are used, these integrations involve rational functions and are usually performed using numerical quadrature methods. In this paper the author presents one possible approach to streamlining the stiffness matrix generation. Unfortunately, numerical results presented in the paper show that the approach results in a severe loss of accuracy. Quadrilateral isoparametric finite elements are generated by mapping quadrilaterals into a unit square in a computational plane by means of a bilinear mapping. It is the inverse of this mapping which gives rise to nontrivial polynomials in the denominator of the integrand in stiffness matrix generation. The author replaces the bilinear mapping by a pair of linear mappings onto triangular subsets of the unit square. Since the Jacobian determinant of each of the mappings is constant the stiffness matrix can be integrated analytically in an efficient manner. Although this approach results in substantial savings of computer time in generation of the stiffness matrix for the model problem presented, it also results in a loss of one power of h (the mesh size) in convergence rate when compared with isoparametric quadrilaterals.