Finite element space descriptions
[Finite elements]

Collaboration diagram for Finite element space descriptions:

The classes here describe finite element spaces, such as the simplest Q1 (bi-/trilinear) spaces, and higher order Lagrangian spaces Qp, but also more specialized spaces such as Nedelec or Raviart-Thomas ones. Concrete implementations are derived from the abstract FiniteElement base class.

In essence, the functions these classes have to implement provide the ability to query the value or derivatives of a shape function at a given point on the unit cell. To be useful in integrating matrix and right hand side entries, one has to have the ability to map these shape functions and gradients to the real cell. This is done using classes derived from the Mapping base class (see the Mappings between reference and real cell module) in conjunction with the FEValues class (see the Finite element access/FEValues classes module).

The FESystem class is different since it doesn't describe shape functions itself, but assembles a vector-valued finite element from other finite element objects. This functionality is described step-8, step-17 and other tutorial programs after that.


deal.II documentation generated on Wed Sep 15 2010 19:14:12 by doxygen 1.7.1