C&EE M135C

Introduction to Finite Element Methods

Civil and Environmental Engineering · 4 units · Undergraduate upper division (100-199)

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(Same as Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering M168.) Introduction to basic concepts of finite element methods (FEM) and applications to structural and solid mechanics and heat transfer. Direct matrix structural analysis; weighted residual, least squares, and Ritz approximation methods; shape functions; convergence properties; isoparametric formulation of multidimensional heat flow and elasticity; numerical integration. Practical use of FEM software; geometric and analytical modeling; preprocessing and postprocessing techniques; term projects with computers.

Letter grading.

When it runs

Spring 2026
Spring 2027

Scheduled, not typical — from UCLA’s Schedule of Classes, which publishes Fall 2025 through Spring 2027 and nothing before it.

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Requisites

Official UCLA wording
Requisite: course 130 or Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 156A or 166A.

BruinTree reads · Prerequisite

confidence 1.00 · from text

one of

Requires

Everything that has to come before this course, not just the courses named in the requisite above.

C&EE M135C

C&EE 130Elementary Structural Mechanics
- C&EE 108Introduction to Mechanics of Deformable Solids
  - C&EE 91Statics
  - MATH 32BCalculus of Several Variables1 more beneath
  - PHYSICS 1APhysics for Scientists and Engineers: Mechanicsanother path to it

Unlocks

What this course is a requisite for, and what those courses lead to in turn.

No course in the catalog lists this as a requisite.