Problem 7.6#

The local element solution has the spatial mapping defined as

\[\begin{equation*} x(\xi) = \sum_{a=1}^2 x_{A+a-1} N_a ( \xi) \end{equation*}\]

for which the linear shape functions are

\[\begin{equation*} N_a(\xi) = \frac{1}{2} \left[ 1 + (-1)^a \xi \right] \end{equation*}\]

Let us expand the mapping with these shape functions by writing the summation explicitly

\[\begin{equation*} x(\xi) = x_{A} N_1 ( \xi) + x_{A+1} N_2 ( \xi) \end{equation*}\]

and now substituting in the shape functions:

\[\begin{align*} N_1(\xi) &= \frac{1}{2} \left[ 1 - \xi \right] \\ N_2(\xi) &= \frac{1}{2} \left[ 1 + \xi \right] \end{align*}\]

the spatial mapping is then

\[\begin{equation*} x(\xi) = \frac{x_{A}}{2} \left[ 1 - \xi \right] + \frac{x_{A+1}}{2} \left[ 1 + \xi \right] \end{equation*}\]

Verifying the values at \(\xi = \pm 1\):#

At \(\xi = -1 \) the mapping becomes

\[\begin{equation*} x(\xi) = \frac{2 x_{A}}{2} = x_{A} \end{equation*}\]

as required. Similarly at \(\xi = 1 \) the mapping becomes

\[\begin{equation*} x(\xi) = \frac{2 x_{A+1}}{2} = x_{A+1} \end{equation*}\]