FINITE-ELEMENT-METHOD

FEM is based on the mesh discretization of a continuous domain into a set of discrete sub-domains. Therefore, information is taken from a small volume (finite element) within a continuum and is projected on its vertices (nodes) by means of interpolation-functions (shape-functions).

If the set of finite elements is selected carefully, shape-functions allow a high degree of interpolation and a high grade of accuracy can be achieved. However, the interconnection of the nodes by shape-functions implies that they do not only receive information from their nearby neighbours ones, but that also information from more distant nodes is taken into account. This leads to dense matrixes and as a consequence to higher memory requirements and longer computing times. Even though, there are some CFD-codes based on FEM [History], it is rather a current method in structural mechanics.