Intro to Mesh Generation and Finite Element Methods

The finite element method is a technique for solving partial differential equations by first discretizing these equations in their space dimensions. The discretization is carried out locally over small regions of simple but arbitrary shape (the finite elements). We introduce various meshing tools available to us in this session from MATLAB to those used in some of our R&D codes.

Mesh generation tools we use

Finite Element Method Intro

Meshing intro

Smith and Griffiths Programming the Finite Element Method

FEM with Octave

FEM with Matlab (requires PDE Toolbox)

Resources

Strang and Fix An Analysis of the Finite Element Method (Prentice-Hall Series in Automatic Computation)

Stephen Jardin Computational Methods in Plasma Physics (Chapman & Hall/CRC Computational Science)

J. Reddy An Introduction to the Finite Element Method

J. W. Eastwood Computational Plasma Physics Chapter 7 of Dendy's Plasma Physics: An Introductory Course

Smith and Griffiths Programming the Finite Element Method