Introduction to Finite Element Analysis

This textbook covers the basic concepts and applications of finite element analysis. It is specifically aimed at introducing this advanced topic to undergraduate-level engineering students and practicing engineers in a lucid manner. It also introduces a structural and heat transfer analysis software FEASTSMT which has wide applications in civil, mechanical, nuclear and automobile engineering domains. This software has been developed by the author and his team at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre/Indian Space Research Organisation. Supported with many illustrative examples, the textbook covers the classical methods of estimating solutions of mathematical models. The book is written in an easy-to-understand manner. This textbook also contains numeral exercise problems to aid self-learning of the students. The solutions to these problems are demonstrated using finite element software. Furthermore, the textbook contains several tutorials and associated online resources on usage of the FEASTSMT software. Given the contents, this textbook will be highly useful for the undergraduate students of various disciplines of engineering. It will also be a good reference book for the practicing engineers.