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Review of Weighted Residual and Variational Methods: Strong Form (Pde + BCS) : Galerkin'S Method

The document discusses Galerkin's method and the weak form of partial differential equations (PDEs). It explains that using integration by parts and the divergence theorem, the strong form of a PDE can be written as an equivalent weak form that must hold for all admissible test functions. This weak form can then be solved using weighted residual methods like the Ritz method or Galerkin's method, which involve approximating the solution space with interpolation functions and minimizing an objective function over the coefficients. The key takeaway is that the strong and weak forms of a PDE are equivalent, so the solution can be found by minimizing the total potential energy instead of directly solving the PDE system.

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DrSomnath Bhattacharya
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53 views5 pages

Review of Weighted Residual and Variational Methods: Strong Form (Pde + BCS) : Galerkin'S Method

The document discusses Galerkin's method and the weak form of partial differential equations (PDEs). It explains that using integration by parts and the divergence theorem, the strong form of a PDE can be written as an equivalent weak form that must hold for all admissible test functions. This weak form can then be solved using weighted residual methods like the Ritz method or Galerkin's method, which involve approximating the solution space with interpolation functions and minimizing an objective function over the coefficients. The key takeaway is that the strong and weak forms of a PDE are equivalent, so the solution can be found by minimizing the total potential energy instead of directly solving the PDE system.

Uploaded by

DrSomnath Bhattacharya
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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strong form(PDE + BCs): + BCs

Galerkins method:
Integration by parts (use of the divergence theorem) yields the weak form:
If we ensure this holds for all admissible W(x), then strong and weak form are equivalent.
If a potential exists, we can find the solution alternatively via minimization:
ReviewofWeightedResidualandVariationalMethods
Ae/CE/AM108a:ComputationalMechanics
Stationarity requires that for all admissible variations u(x) we have:
ReviewofWeightedResidualandVariationalMethods
Ae/CE/AM108a:ComputationalMechanics
Note: weight functions W(x) and variations u(x) must be admissible, i.e. that (they and
derivatives) must vanish wherever we impose conditions on u(x) (or its derivatives).
We must construct approximate spaces for the solution as well as for the weights
and variations based on interpolation functions (here: BubnovGalerkin):
We need to determine the solution coefficients a
i
for arbitrary choices of b
i
.
Apply W(x) to the Galerkin weak form:
for all b
i
Recall:
This gives n equations for the n unknown coefficients a
i
.
ReviewofWeightedResidualandVariationalMethods
Ae/CE/AM108a:ComputationalMechanics
Note: weight functions W(x) and variations u(x) must be admissible, i.e. that (they and
derivatives) must vanish wherever we impose conditions on u(x) (or its derivatives).
We must construct approximate spaces for the solution as well as for the weights
and variations based on interpolation functions (here: BubnovGalerkin):
Ritz method: substitute approximate solution u(x) into the potential and minimize
with respect to the unknown coefficients:
Recall:
This gives n equations for the n unknown coefficients a
i
.
Galerkins method:
When specifying the weight space by interpolation functions we arrive at:
for all b
i
Potential minimization:
Ritz method: specifying the weight space by interpolation functions gives
ReviewofWeightedResidualandVariationalMethods
Ae/CE/AM108a:ComputationalMechanics
ReviewofWeightedResidualandVariationalMethods
Ae/CE/AM108a:ComputationalMechanics
Most important takehome message:
strong form and weak form are equivalent (when constructed correctly).
Therefore, we can find an approximate solution without solving the PDE/ODE system
directly by minimizing the total potential energy:
The resulting weak form is

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