A frontal solution program for finite element analysis

Abstract

Abstract The program given here assembles and solves symmetric positive–definite equations as met in finite element applications. The technique is more involved than the standard band–matrix algorithms, but it is more efficient in the important case when two‐dimensional or three‐dimensional elements have other than corner nodes. Artifices are included to improve efficiency when there are many right hand sides, as in automated design. The organization of the program is described with reference to diagrams, full notation, specimen input data and supplementary comments on the ASA FORTRAN print‐out.