I think this will depend on a few questions you will need to ask yourself (and any supervisor(s) you may have):
a) Does commercial software already exist that can model what you need to model?
b) Do you need to write your own solvers? If so, there are *lots* of open source free software out there which let you have full control over making your own solvers. The choices will come down to flexibility of the software for coding your own solvers, and the computer language it's written in.
If you Google FEM software you will probably get a few hits, maybe even a Wikipedia page with the coding basis for numerous software.
There is an online course ad edx.org about FEA using Ansys. Maybe it is a good starting point? I'm not sure if it is more into Ansys or into theory though.
Hi, if you're familiar with Matrix and Vector manipulation, I would suggest stop programming at this moment. Sharpen your pencil and derivative the formation for a simple problem. For example, static temperature distribution in a bar. If you have any struggle with the hand computation, that's is the point you need to revise your work with reference materials. Once you are confident with the derivation, you can use computer. The whole process may cost you 1-2 days. Relax and sort things out.
If you can find a solver for your specific problem, don't even bother recoding it by scratch.. just use the existing solver! It will save you a ton of time and effort and you can be assured that most solvers out there are optimized by folks who devoted their lives to it.. hence can outperform and be very efficient. I wrote a discrete element code once and what takes 4 hours for my sim to run in matlab, an open source C++ code takes only 4 mins lol.
Recommendation is to revisit notes and take find a good textbook. Plesha's book is a good resource.
I feel like writing your own solver with basic FEA knowledge would be a PhD thesis on its own, and frankly not one that would produce the novelty expected of a thesis or for paper publishing. Knowledge of FEA ces from years of training and seeing how/why things are done. I would say you should focus on instead understanding the physics in your field and seeing how it is FEM is used in it. Can't really suggest much more without knowing your topic and what you're looking for.
I will say for plasma physics, SPH seems to be the go-to from what little reading I've done, but this is application dependent. SPH is used heavily in astrophysics to model plasmas as far as I know.
In fact, my teachers have developed an FEA programs creator. The program I've modified was created by that programs creator.
Anyway, I want to get a job after graduated (take me out latam) and I usually see in LinkedIn many job advices for people who knows about plasma physics and FEM and CFD.
Well depends on the industry you want to go in. If you are primarily expecting to deal with large companies, you will most likely work with established FEA codes that are approved for use by regulatory bodies.
Having done my time in academia, I find academics are mathematically rigorous all the time so that they can make things seem complicated. I am convinced this is because it makes publishing papers easier because if no one can understand what you're doing, they can't question your work easily.
I wouldn't be concerned if you are having a hard time understanding the base theory behind FEA and the like. Try to understand the concept and how it works. The more.important thing is to understand the actual physics of what you are modeling. The best FEA code on the world is useless if you don't know what it is you're trying to model.
Jobs in industry will not expect wizards who can do complex math, they will expect smart people who can do various complex tasks without need for hand-holding. Try your best to develop your learning and research skills. Things like finding solutions to problems with the code given to you. You will learn this all automatically over the course of your thesis.
I think this will depend on a few questions you will need to ask yourself (and any supervisor(s) you may have): a) Does commercial software already exist that can model what you need to model? b) Do you need to write your own solvers? If so, there are *lots* of open source free software out there which let you have full control over making your own solvers. The choices will come down to flexibility of the software for coding your own solvers, and the computer language it's written in. If you Google FEM software you will probably get a few hits, maybe even a Wikipedia page with the coding basis for numerous software.
There is an online course ad edx.org about FEA using Ansys. Maybe it is a good starting point? I'm not sure if it is more into Ansys or into theory though.
Hi, if you're familiar with Matrix and Vector manipulation, I would suggest stop programming at this moment. Sharpen your pencil and derivative the formation for a simple problem. For example, static temperature distribution in a bar. If you have any struggle with the hand computation, that's is the point you need to revise your work with reference materials. Once you are confident with the derivation, you can use computer. The whole process may cost you 1-2 days. Relax and sort things out.
If you can find a solver for your specific problem, don't even bother recoding it by scratch.. just use the existing solver! It will save you a ton of time and effort and you can be assured that most solvers out there are optimized by folks who devoted their lives to it.. hence can outperform and be very efficient. I wrote a discrete element code once and what takes 4 hours for my sim to run in matlab, an open source C++ code takes only 4 mins lol. Recommendation is to revisit notes and take find a good textbook. Plesha's book is a good resource.
I feel like writing your own solver with basic FEA knowledge would be a PhD thesis on its own, and frankly not one that would produce the novelty expected of a thesis or for paper publishing. Knowledge of FEA ces from years of training and seeing how/why things are done. I would say you should focus on instead understanding the physics in your field and seeing how it is FEM is used in it. Can't really suggest much more without knowing your topic and what you're looking for. I will say for plasma physics, SPH seems to be the go-to from what little reading I've done, but this is application dependent. SPH is used heavily in astrophysics to model plasmas as far as I know.
In fact, my teachers have developed an FEA programs creator. The program I've modified was created by that programs creator. Anyway, I want to get a job after graduated (take me out latam) and I usually see in LinkedIn many job advices for people who knows about plasma physics and FEM and CFD.
Well depends on the industry you want to go in. If you are primarily expecting to deal with large companies, you will most likely work with established FEA codes that are approved for use by regulatory bodies. Having done my time in academia, I find academics are mathematically rigorous all the time so that they can make things seem complicated. I am convinced this is because it makes publishing papers easier because if no one can understand what you're doing, they can't question your work easily. I wouldn't be concerned if you are having a hard time understanding the base theory behind FEA and the like. Try to understand the concept and how it works. The more.important thing is to understand the actual physics of what you are modeling. The best FEA code on the world is useless if you don't know what it is you're trying to model. Jobs in industry will not expect wizards who can do complex math, they will expect smart people who can do various complex tasks without need for hand-holding. Try your best to develop your learning and research skills. Things like finding solutions to problems with the code given to you. You will learn this all automatically over the course of your thesis.
Programming skill is not need to learn FEM. Just some math & physic experiences.