CE 72.

12 Finite Element Methods in Engineering

Lecture 17: Quadrilateral Elements and Jacobian - 1
Semester – January 2022

Dr. Chaitanya Krishna

Department of Civil and Infrastructure Engineering
School of Engineering and Technology (SET)

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Elements 2

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 Pascal’s
Triangles

Q Elements→

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Meshing… 4

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Quad Elements (Physical Coordinate) 2
Let us derive the shape function (𝝓) of a quadrilateral element
𝑦 𝑦′
2 𝑥4 𝑦4 𝑥3 𝑦3 3
−𝑎, 𝑏 𝑎, 𝑏
The length of the sides of the rectangle is 2a
𝑏 and 2b in x, y direction.

𝑒 𝑥’
𝑥 ′ = 𝑥 − 𝑥0 ; 𝑦 ′ = 𝑦 − 𝑦0
𝑏
−𝑎, −𝑏 𝑎, −𝑏 𝑥2 𝑦2
1
𝑥𝑙 + 𝑥2 + 𝑥3 + 𝑥4
2 𝑥0 =
4
𝑥1 , 𝑦1 𝑥

𝑦 + 𝑦2 + 𝑦3 + 𝑦4
𝑦0 =
4
Requirements:
(i) 4 functions for each displacement should
uniquely define the shape function 𝜙෠ ⅇ = 𝛼1 + 𝛼2 𝑥 ′ + 𝛼3 𝑦 ′ + 𝛼4 𝑥 ′ . 𝑦 ′
(ii) The shape functions should behave linearly
at each edge

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Q4 Shape Functions 6

෡1𝑒 at each node as:

• The coefficient may be obtained by expressing ∅

𝜙෠1𝑒 1 −𝑎 −𝑏 𝑎𝑏 𝛼1
𝜙෠ 2𝑒 1 𝑎 −𝑏 −𝑎𝑏 𝛼2
= 𝛼3
𝜙෠ 3𝑒 1 𝑎 𝑏 𝑎𝑏
1 −𝑎 𝑏 −𝑎𝑏 𝛼4
𝜙෠4𝑒

𝜙෠ 𝑒 =𝛼1 + 𝛼2 𝑥 ′ + 𝛼3 𝑦 ′ + 𝛼4 𝑥 ′ 𝑦 ′

𝑁1 𝑁2
1 𝑥′ 𝑦′ 1 𝑥′ 𝑦′
𝜙෠ 𝑒 = 1− 1− 𝜙෠1𝑒 + 1+ 1− 𝜙෠ 2𝑒 +
4 𝑎 𝑏 4 𝑎 𝑏

𝑁3 𝑁4
1 𝑥′ 𝑦′ 1 𝑥′ 𝑦′
1+ 1+ 𝜙෠ 3𝑒 + 1− 1+ 𝜙෠4𝑒
4 𝑎 𝑏 4 𝑎 𝑏
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In Parent Coordinate System 7

• The shape function for rectangular elements can be written as:

1 𝑥′ 𝑦′ 1 𝑥′ 𝑦′
𝑁1 = 1− 1− ; 𝑁2 = 1+ 1−
4 𝑎 𝑏 4 𝑎 𝑏

1 𝑥′ 𝑦′ 1 𝑥′ 𝑦′
𝑁3 = 1+ 1+ ; 𝑁4 = 1− 1+
4 𝑎 𝑏 4 𝑎 𝑏

𝑥′ 𝑦′
➔Now, 𝜉= ; 𝜂=
𝑎 𝑏

𝜉, 𝜂 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑦ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠

1 1
𝑁1 = 1 − 𝜉 1 − 𝜂 ; 𝑁2 = 1 + 𝜉 1 − 𝜂
4 4

1 1
𝑁3 = 1+𝜉 1+𝜂 ; 𝑁4 = 1−𝜉 1+𝜂
4 4
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Isoparametric Formulation 8

• Isoparametric formulation allows quadrilateral elements

to have non-rectangular shapes with the same equations
• The concept of isoparametric “mapping” (of the regular
geometry into its distorted shape) is based on
approximating the geometry by the same set of
interpolation functions used to approximate the
displacements.
Advantages:
1. More versatile elements w.r.t.
modelling:
2. Irregular (complicated) geometry
Curved boundaries
3. Transition from coarse to fine mesh
to capture stress concentrations in
critical regions

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4 Noded Quad 9

• The four-node quadrilateral element is very similar to the

four-node rectangular element.
• Both provide bilinear interpolation over the element for
the general solution and a linear approximation of the
first derivative.
• The difference is that, the quadrilateral element is not
restricted to rectangular shapes; in fact it may represent
any number of rectilinear shapes.
• So all the generic expressions for quadrilateral shape
functions will apply here
• Interpolation
• Mapping
• Derivatives and Jacobian
• Integration

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Lagarangian Quadrilateral 10
We need a systematic method to generate Product of Lagarange polynomials
shape functions for any quadrilateral
Reference:
𝑝 𝜉−𝜉𝑏 𝜉−𝜉1 𝜉−𝜉2 𝜉−𝜉3 𝜉−𝜉𝑛
𝑙𝑎 = ς𝑛𝑏=1 = 𝜉𝑎 −𝜉1 …………………
𝜉𝑎 −𝜉𝑏 𝜉𝑎 −𝜉2 𝜉𝑎 −𝜉3 𝜉𝑎 −𝜉𝑛
𝑏≠1

𝑁𝑎 = 𝑁𝐼𝐽 = 𝑙𝐼𝑛 𝜉 𝑙𝐽𝑚 𝜂

1,2 2,2
4 3

Where,
a = local node
I = column number in x direction
J = row number in y direction
n and m =the corresponding subdivision in their 1 2
respective directions 1,1 2,1

1
Example for a linear element : 𝑁𝑎 = 1 − 𝜉𝑎 𝜉 1 + 𝜂𝑎 𝜂
4

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Q4 Element 11
𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑎 4 𝑛𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒
𝐺𝑙𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚
𝜂= 1
𝑦 𝑦′
4
𝟑

𝑥’
𝜉=-1 𝜉= 1
1 𝟐

𝑥
𝜂= -1
𝑁𝑜𝑑𝑒 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟
1
a 1 2 3 4 𝑁𝑎 = 1 − 𝜉𝑎 𝜉 1 + 𝜂𝑎 𝜂
4
I 1 2 2 1
1 1
J 1 1 2 2 𝑁1 = 1 − 𝜉 1 − 𝜂 𝑁3 = 1 + 𝜉 1 + 𝜂
4 4
1 1
𝑁2 = 1 + 𝜉 1 − 𝜂 𝑁4 = 1 − 𝜉 1 + 𝜂
4 4
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Mapping 12

𝑷𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆: Mapping ➔ Obtainin parametric forms

• Shape function In terms of parent coordinate system Parametric forms

𝑥(𝜉, 𝜂) = σ 𝑁𝑎′ 𝜉, 𝜂 . 𝑥𝑎

• In case of a 4 node element,

4

𝑁𝑎′ = (1 + 𝜉𝑎 𝜉)(1 + 𝜂𝑎 𝜂)Τ4

𝟑 2
• The map of the element should be in such a way that the
> 180 ˚
vector angles are < 180˚

Inadmissible
1
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Derivative 13

• We need to compute the derivative of shape functions with respect to the global
coordinate x, y, z.

• In case of a 2D;

𝜉= (𝜉, 𝜂) (𝑥, 𝑦)

• From the chain rule of partial derivative of any function f(𝜉, 𝜂) with respect to x, y.

𝜕𝑓 𝜕𝜉 𝜕𝜂 𝜕𝑓
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝜉
𝜕𝑓 = 𝜕𝜉 𝜕𝜂 𝜕𝑓
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝜂

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Jacobian 14

• Let us consider two function 𝑓1 = x & 𝑓2 =y

In 1D,it was called Jacobian

𝜕𝑓1 𝜕𝑓2 𝜕𝜉 𝜕𝜂 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥 1 0 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝜉 𝜕𝜉
𝜕𝑓1 𝜕𝑓2 = = 𝐼 = 𝜕𝜉 𝜕𝜂 × 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦
0 1
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝜂 𝜕𝜂

Points:
• The array J is called the Jacobian matrix.
• J can be found explicitly from the local coordinates (𝜉, 𝜂) J = Jacobian of 2D
linear quadrilateral

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Derivative of Shape Functions 15

• To find the global derivative for 𝑓 = 𝑁𝑎 , 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡 𝐽

𝜕𝑁𝑎 𝜕𝑁𝑎
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝜉
𝛿𝑁𝑎 = 𝐽−1
𝜕𝑁𝑎
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝜂
Physical 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒

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 −1 16
𝐽 and 𝐽
𝜙𝐼𝑛 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠, 𝑤𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒,

𝜕𝑁𝑎 𝜕𝑁𝑎
෍ . 𝑥𝑎 ෍ . 𝑦𝑎
𝜕𝜉 𝜕𝜉
𝐽=
𝜕𝑁𝑎 𝜕𝑁𝑎
෍ . 𝑥𝑎 ෍ .𝑦
𝜕𝜂 𝜕𝜂 𝑎

𝜙 𝐼𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐽𝑎𝑐𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑥

𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦 Where,
− 𝑗 = 𝑑𝑒𝑡 𝐽
1 𝜕𝜂 𝛿𝜉
𝐽−1 =
𝑗 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥
− =
𝛿𝑥 𝛿𝑦
. −
𝛿𝑥 𝛿𝑦
.
𝛿𝜂 𝛿𝜉 𝛿𝜉 𝛿𝜂 𝛿𝜂 𝛿𝜉

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Understanding Jacobian 17
Example:

“In simple, a Jacobian is a bridge between a complex real structure and an equivalent
structure of isoparametric element mesh”
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Properties of Jacobian 18

• The determinant of the Jacobian matrix, 𝐽 is a test of

the invertibility of the transformation 𝑥→𝜁
• When 𝐽 is positive everywhere in a region, the
transformation may be inverted to determine 𝜁→𝑥
• This means that for a given point (𝑥, 𝑦) in the
quadrilateral there is a unique corresponding point (𝜁, 𝜂)
in the parent element
• Some 𝐽𝑎𝑐𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑎𝑛 properties:
• If a perfect rectangle shape is used, then the Jacobian matrix
would be diagonal and constant
• The value of determinant of 𝐽 should be positive for avoiding
severe distortion

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Example Problem-1 19

• Find the Jacobian of the quadrilateral shown in the figure

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Example Problem-2 20

• The physical element has severe

distortion. Find the Jacobian matrix

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