The finite element method for boundary value problems: mathematics and computations (Q2833065)

The chapter headings of this large book read as follows: 1. Introduction, 2. Concepts from functional analysis, 3. Classical methods of approximation, 4. The finite element method, 5. Self-adjoint differential operators, 6. Non-self-adjoint differential operators, 7. Nonlinear differential operators, 8. Basic elements of mapping and interpolation theory, 9. Linear elasticity using the principle of minimum total potential energy, 10. Linear and nonlinear mechanics using the principle of virtual displacements, 11. Additional topics in linear structural mechanics, and 12. Convergence, error estimation, and adaptivity. The book also contains an appendix devoted to Gauss quadrature in various domains and an index.NEWLINENEWLINE Each chapter ends with a list of references. Many of these references belong to the authors. However, some of them remember the advent days of finite elements, i.e., the early 1970s. The authors reduce the mathematics usually attached to f.e.m.\ to a sort of ``continuous mathematics'' which only mimics the rigorous mathematical concepts. Thus, the Sobolev spaces are reduced to a kind of Hilbert spaces of continuous functions, differentiability in normed spaces becomes ``variation'', etc. Some formulations are rather naïve but could lead to intuitive flashes.NEWLINENEWLINE The work seems to be tailored to solve problems in linear and nonlinear computational mechanics. The authors provide all ingredients one needs in order to solve such problems from variational formulations to algebraic systems. They also provide detailed basic steps in f.e.m.\ as well as some hints for an advanced approach. The text is full of minute details about the geometry of various elements (2D especially), the local and global (assembled) discretization matrices, quadratures of various integrals, numerical values of physical parameters, etc. A~host of boundary value problems from linear and nonlinear elasticity as well as from viscous (compressible) fluid flows are carried out. The numerical outcomes are displayed in suggestive figures and tables. In the case of 1D problems, they are compared with analytical solutions.