This graduate level course is the backbone introduction to weak statement (finite element) theory for computer simulation for engineering students with an interest in computational mechanics and simulation. Despite the ME listing, this course is open to all majors as the numeric solution of partial differential equations is relevant to all disciplines.

The goal of this course is not to learn how to push buttons on an arbitrary piece of canned software and obtain colorful pictures - that requires nothing more than a user manual and some free time. Instead, the course will focus on the theory of finite elements, their implementation for various problem statements (heat conduction, convection-diffusion energy transport, Euler and Timeshenko beams, gas dynamic shocks, open-channel flows), the recognition and rectification of common error modes, and an understanding that results obtained from finite element analysis are wrong ... and the magnitude of that wrongness is entirely in the hands of the engineer!