Projects

Term Project – Graduate Students Only

Every graduate student taking 2.093 is required to complete a term project; undergraduates taking 2.092 are not required to complete a project. Hence, the only difference between taking 2.093 (graduate students) and 2.092 (undergraduate students) is this requirement regarding the project.

Some suggested projects:

  1. Choose any problem you can think of and are interested in analyzing regarding solids, fluids, heat transfer, seepage, etc. It is your choice.
  2. Look through the ADINA Primer (click on Help in the AUI to get to the Primer) to see whether you find a problem of your interest. Rerun and modify the problem. Experiment with the finite element methods.
  3. Choose a problem related to your research.

Note: Please choose a (tractable) problem that you can analyze in depth in the very limited time available. The project work is typically started at the beginning of October and involves the following steps:

  • Choose a problem and consider a simple mathematical model of the problem (geometry, material data, boundary conditions) such that in the first instance you can compare your analysis results with some analytical results
  • Solve this "simple" mathematical model using ADINA. Obtain an accurate solution.
  • Now increase the complexity of the mathematical model and re-solve. Obtain an accurate solution using different finite elements, different meshes etc. Ask "what if" questions and experiment with the finite element method. In each case, interpret the calculated response.
  • The objective of the project is that you obtain a deeper knowledge of finite element methods through the use of the methods, and that you feel "comfortable using the methods".

Please hand in on Session #6 a short description (a few sentences) of the project you would like to select. This description must be approved for you to proceed.

Student Work

This final project report is presented as an example of student work in this class. All material is presented courtesy of the authors, and with their permission.

"Frequency Response of Trees." (PDF - 2.8MB)