This book takes a unique look at the practicalities of modelling and designing with commercial software. For ease of use, a step-by-step approach is adopted to describe the analysis process, with a series of test cases and real engineering problems used as illustrations. Commercial software is increasingly used to demonstrate the application of finite element theory and this book reflects this approach. Topics examined include the historical development of finite element theory, structural mechanics and the development of finite element characteristics, the analysis process for design, building the geometry description and finite element mesh, as well as obtaining and analysing results.