Are you tired of picking up a book that claims to be on "practical" finite element analysis only to find that it is full of the same old theory rehashed and contains no advice to help you plan your analysis? If so then this book is for you! The emphasis of this book is on doing FEA, not writing a FE code. A method is provided to help you plan your analysis and a chapter is devoted to each choice you have to make when building your model giving you clear and specific advice. Finally nine case studies are provided which illustrate the points made in the main text and take you slowly through your first finite element analyses. The book is written in such a way that it is not specific to any particular FE software so it doesn't matter which FE software you use, this book can help you! The 2nd Edition of this very popular finite element analysis guide: 1)Emphasises practical finite element analysis with commercially available finite element software packages 2)Is written in a generic way so it is not specific to any particular software but clearly shows the methodology required for successful FEA 3)Is focused entirely on structural stress analysis 4)Offers specific advice on which element types to use, which material model to pick, which type of analysis to use and which type of results to look for 5)Provides specific, no nonsense advice on how to fix problems in the analysis 6)Contains over 300 illustrations 7)Provides nine detailed case studies which specifically show you how to perform various types of analysis 8)Does not weigh you down with unnecessary theory, but provides you with the minimum theory needed to understand the methods 9)Is an invaluable guide and reference for engineering students and practising engineers