AN OBJECT-ORIENTED CLASS DESIGN FOR THE GENERALIZED FINITE ELEMENT METHOD PROGRAMMING

Authors

  • DORIVAL PIEDADE NETO UNIVERTSITY OF SãO PAULO SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AT SãO CARLOS DEPARTMENT OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
  • MANOEL DêNIS COSTA FERREIRA UNIVERTSITY OF SãO PAULO SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AT SãO CARLOS DEPARTMENT OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
  • SERGIO PERSIVAL BARONCINI PROENçA UNIVERTSITY OF SãO PAULO SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AT SãO CARLOS DEPARTMENT OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

Keywords:

OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING, GENERALIZED FINITE ELEMENT ME- THOD, PYTHON PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

Abstract

THE GENERALIZED FINITE ELEMENT METHOD (GFEM) IS A NUMERICAL METHOD BASED ON THE FINITE ELEMENT METHOD (FEM), PRESENTING AS ITS MAIN FEATURE THE POSSIBILITY OF IMPROVING THE SOLUTION BY MEANS OF LOCAL ENRICHMENT FUNCTIONS. IN SPITE OF ITS ADVANTAGES, THEMETHOD DEMANDS A COMPLEX DATA STRUCTURE, WHICH CAN BE ESPECIALLY BENEFITED BY THE OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING (OOP). EVEN THOUGH THE OOP FOR THE TRADITIONAL FEM HAS BEEN EXTENSIVELY DESCRIBED IN THE TECHNICAL LITERATURE, SPECIFIC DESIGN ISSUES RELATEDTO THE GFEM ARE YET LITTLE DISCUSSED AND NOT CLEARLY DEFINED. IN THE PRESENT ARTICLE IT IS DESCRIBED AN OBJECT-ORIENTED (OO) CLASS DESIGN FOR THE GFEM, AIMING TO ACHIEVE A COMPUTATIONAL CODE THAT PRESENTS A FLEXIBLE CLASS STRUCTURE, CIRCUMVENTING THE DIFFICULTIES ASSOCIATED TO THE METHOD CHARACTERISTICS. THE PROPOSED DESIGNIS EVALUATED BY MEANS OF SOME NUMERICAL EXAMPLES, COMPUTED USING A CODE IMPLEMENTED IN PYTHON PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE. ONE CONCLUDES THAT THE OO DESIGN FULFILLS THE AIMED PURPOSE.

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Published

2013-04-21

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 6 (2013)

Section

Articles

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