Finite elements on a spreadsheet

Abstract

The finite element method is a very versatile and powerful technique for solving problems in engineering and the sciences and as such features in many advanced undergraduate courses in numerical methods. Over some twenty years of teaching the method on courses at that level the author has consistently experienced the same difficulty in each presentation of the course. The difficulty is that in order to solve even very simple problems a computational approach is needed. Students frequently find that they get bogged down in the complexities of a specific programming language and lose sight of the finite element method itself. The use of a spreadsheet, however, has made the teaching and learning of the method considerably easier. The interpretative nature of the environment, together with the straightforward method of placing formulae in cells, allows students to implement the method for problems of moderate size in a manner which is much quicker than was the case with a conventional programming language.