Introduction to FEM. General concepts. Basic Elaticity Theory, 1D, 2D and 3D constitutive relationships. Element shape functions. Liner truss elements, Constant Strain Triangular Elements, Linear Rectangular Elements, Quadrilateral Elements, Gauss Integration, The Galerkin method of weighted residuals. The variational method. Assembly. Application of essential boundary conditions. Solution. Checks on accuracy. Improving the accuracy of the approximation. The h-version method. The p-version method. Implementation of the finite element method. Mesh design. Pre-solution checks. Solution methods. Ill-conditioning. Post-processing software and results presentation. Post-solution checks. Validation of the finite element software and the role of NAFEMS. ABAQUS Finite Element Code.