The Finite Element Method: (6th Edition)

Zienkiewicz, Taylor, Zhu and Nithiarasu

It is now thirty eight years since Professor Zienkiewicz published the first edition of his prominent book “The Finite Element Method”. Over the intervening years, the book has continued to be one of the leading reference texts for the subject as new material has been added to reflect the many advances in the technology. Now into its sixth edition, it totals 1800 pages which span across three volumes: “Basis & Fundamentals, Solid and Structural Mechanics, Fluid Dynamics”. Each of the volumes can be obtained separately, or the complete set can be purchased at a reduced cost.

Given the tremendous breadth of topics which are now encompassed by FEA the authors have been fairly successful in providing a comprehensive coverage, with sections included for topics such as multiscale modelling and coupled analyses.

Researchers and post-graduate students who are wishing to specialise in finite elements will – like many before them – find the text of this latest edition an invaluable reference text which introduces the fundamental aspects of the theory underlying the various techniques. In particular, the many exercises and worked solutions are an invaluable resource which are now complemented by additional material which is available on a companion web site.

The three individual volumes are reasonably well self-contained, although those who are interested in studying fluid dynamics would be well advised to supplement the third volume with additional texts to provide a more in-depth coverage of the non-FE based methods which are prevalent in most commercial codes.

Overall the sixth edition of this well-known book represents a wide-ranging introduction to the theory behind much of today’s computational engineering analysis tools.