Advantages and Disadvantages of FEM

1. Dr. A. S. Sayyad
Professor & Head
Department of Structural Engineering
Sanjivani College of Engineering, Kopargaon 423603.
(An Autonomous Institute, Affiliated to Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune)
Finite Element Method
In Civil Engineering
Advantages and Disadvantages
of FEM

2. 1. Finite element method is effectively
applicable to problems involving irregular
shape, irregular boundary condition and
irregular loading conditions.
2. For anisotropic material properties,
solution by classical method is very
difficult. FEM can handle such structures
without any difficulty.
3. Material non-linearity and geometric non-
linear problems cannot handle by classical
methods. There is no difficulty in FEM to
handle such problem.
4. FEM superior to irregular problems, for
regular problems classical methods are
best solution
Advantages of FEM

3. 1. In classical method exact solution is obtained whereas in FEM approximate
solution is obtained.
2. This technique depends upon skill designer in assuming element type,
number of nodes and displacement fields etc.
3. Still adequate for several problems such as; cracking behaviour, bond failure,
problems of composite materials.
4. It requires large amount of computer memory and computational time to
obtained results.
Disadvantages of FEM
Question: What are the advantages and disadvantages of FEM? Explain