In: Mechanical Engineering
1) In your own words define “discretisation” and “degrees of freedom” in terms of the finite element method.
a) Give the governing equation for a thermal analysis and briefly explain each term. Using this equation, describe the three basic modes of heat transfer and how they are included into an FE analysis.
[Word limit: 200]
b) What do the terms sensitivity, verification, and validation mean in regards to the accuracy of a finite element analysis and how are they utilised?