This book deals with basic theory, concepts and applications of finite element method in the areas of structural analysis, heat transfer and metal working processes. The finite element formulations are developed through easy to understand derivations for the analyses (static, transient dynamic and geometrical nonlinear) of bars, beams, plane stress/plane strain and ax symmetric solids, plates, shells and three-dimensional structures, made of both isotropic as well as composite materials. Chapters on heat transfer and metal working analyses have also been added to increase the scope of application. A significant feature of this book is the presentation of a user-friendly computer code "SB-FEM" (available on an accompanying disk) which can be used to solve several real world problems included in the text. The computer code covers the gap between theory and application and thus enables the reader to use the finite element method to solve practical problems with minimum effort and within a very short time. Written in a simple straightforward manner with broad coverage and consistent style in the presentation, this book may be an indispensable text for students (senior undergraduate or graduate students) as well as practicing engineers in the relevant fields.

Surendra Kumar is currently a principal scientist at Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, Durgapur; which is a constituent laboratory of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research,New Delhi, India. He obtained his B.Sc. (Engg.) and M.Tech. degrees from National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur and Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He has about 15 years of job experience which include research experience (National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur and CSIR Centre for Mathematical Modeling and Computer Simulation,Bangalore) and teaching experience (National Institute of Foundry and Technology, Ranchi). His fields of research interest include Computational Mechanics, Finite Element Method, Composite Materials, Metal Working Processes and Software Development. He has published 20 research papers in different journals and conference proceedings. He has developed two large-size computer codes, (a) SBFEM for finite element analysis of structures and metal working processes and (b) SB-Word for the purpose of word processing in bilingual (English-Hindi) typescripts, along with several small-size computer programs. He has recently launched and maintains a website www.softbodh.org, the purpose of which is to disseminate the knowledge and experience in software development and use.