  This paper contributes with a new formal method of spatial discretization of
a class of nonlinear distributed parameter systems that allow a
port-Hamiltonian representation over a one dimensional manifold. A specific
finite dimensional port-Hamiltonian element is defined that enables a structure
preserving discretization of the infinite dimensional model that inherits the
Dirac structure, the underlying energy balance and matches the Hamiltonian
function on any, possibly nonuniform mesh of the spatial geometry.
