Finite Element Analysis

During the 1970s and 1980s, says Narasaiah (aeronautical engineering, MLR Institute of Technology, Hyderabad), graduate students and researchers needed a rigorous mathematical understanding of the finite element method in order to write computer programs for their particular purposes, but now there are commercial programs not only for most specific purposes, but also for general purposes, and computers that can run them faster than a speeding bullet. What is needed now, he says, is a general awareness of the method that will allow the effective use of the available software to design and analyze complicated products that will be competitive in the market. This is the emphasis of his textbook for student engineers, which also covers aspects of design usually taught in courses called mechanics of solids. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)