CONTINUOUS FIELD APPROXIMATION OF EXPERIMENTALLY GIVEN DATA BY FINITE-ELEMENTS

A method for continuous approximation of discretely given data in a tw o- or three-dimensional domain of arbitrary shape is presented. The me thod uses shape functions of customary finite elements for modelling t he approximation; special properties ensure the smoothness for success ful differentiating and improve the accuracy. Many ideas and tools fro m finite element analysis can be used and the presented examples show the easy application. No restriction is made to the input data, scalar - or vector-valued, and especially the distribution of the given data, can be totally irregular (scattered data). Hence, the method is appli cable to a wide range of problems. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.