Exam #1

ME 4093/6093: Finite Element Analysis

Spring 2011
1. A composite wall is made up of three materials. One side of the wall is held at 25 deg C
and the other side is held at 500 deg C. What is the temperature of the junctions between the
layers. Use a direct nite element approach where the differential equation is
kA
d
2
T
dx
2
= 0, 0 < x < L
and the data are kA
1
= 70 W-m/K, kA
2
= 40 W-m/K, kA
3
= 20 W-m/K, h
1
= 4 cm, h
2
= 5
cm, and h
3
= 2.5 cm. The one-dimensional heat transfer nite element model is
A
e
k
e
h
e

1 1
1 1

T
e
1
T
e
2

Q
e
1
Q
e
2

where Q is the heat ow. (Hint: no heat sources exist inside the wall).
2. Problem 5.29 on the attached sheet.
3. Write down the trial function for a two termapproximation for problem 5.29. In other words,
how would you write eq. (P.11) using two terms?
4. Problem 5.32 on the attached sheet.
5. (Required for Graduate Students) Prove that the following differential equation is, in fact, a
result from minimizing the corresponding potential energy functional. In other words, prove
that the stationary function u(x) is an extremizing function using the calculus of variations.
Is this a minumum or a maximum function?
d
2
u
dx
2
+400x
2
= 0; 0 x 1
u(0) = 0, u(1) = 0
(u) =

L
0

1
2

du
dx

2
+ 400x
2
u dx
1