2.9 Introduction to Finite Elements

2.9.2 1-D Finite Element Mesh and Notation

Measurable Outcome 2.16

Consider a mesh of one-dimensional elements as shown in Figure 2.35.

The figure shows a horizontal line with evenly spaced nodes and the span between two neighboring nodes labeled as a interger of j.
Figure 2.35: Mesh and notation for one-dimensional finite element method.

As shown in the figure, element \(j\) is the region from \(x_{j} \leq x \leq x_{j+1}\). Note, each element can have its own length,

\[\Delta x_ j \equiv x_{j+1} - x_ j.\] (2.198)