Finite Element Analysis (FEA) — Variational Principles

This course focuses on obtaining the weak form using variational methods. Further, it discusses potential energy, or Gibbs free energy. We will talk about ‘pi’ as free energy functional and how the extrema can be used to check equilibrium states. Next, we discuss the variation in ‘pi’ with respect to the variation in the field. Then, we will see how the extremization of free energy functional is performed.
This course was developed by Prof. Krishna Garikipati and Dr. Gregory Teichert, at the University of Michigan in partnership with Ansys.