An essential guide for design engineers who use the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) during the product development process, this book turns the FEA into a productivity tool that will help to avoid costly and potentially dangerous mistakes. During the 50 years of its development, FEA evolved from an exotic analysis method accessible only to specialized analysts into a mainstream engineering tool. Phenomenal progress in computer hardware and operating systems combined with similar progress in computer-aided design made FEA the tool of choice for design engineers, who now use it during the product design process. Many books have been written about FEA, however very little FEA literature takes a middle ground approach and specifically addresses the needs of design engineers who use FEA as an everyday design tool. This book attempts to fill that void by focusing on an understanding of FEA fundamentals, which are explained through simple and intuitive examples that can be used by any engineer. This book also takes a practical approach, characteristic to the attitudes of design engineers, and offers readers an opportunity to try all discussed topics by solving downloadable exercises using either their own FEA software or the commercial FEA software StressCheck(R), which is licensed for free to readers.