This manual is part of a set of training material for finite element analysis software packages, developed by the Manchester Computer Centre UMIST Support Unit under the Universities Funding Council, Information Systems Committee (UFC,ISC) Information Technology Training Initiative (ITTI), during 1993 -1995.

This module was developed and written by, Dr Costas Soutis, Department of Engineering, University of Leicester on behalf of the project holders at the Manchester Computer Centre (MCC) UMIST Support Unit.

The illustrations for this document were prepared by Dr Rae S. Gordon, of the MCC UMIST Support Unit.

The material was updated in 2007 under the supervision of Dr Jim Wood, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, who was also a member of the Steering Committee for the original ITTI project. The updating involved conversion of all text documents to pdf format; conversion of all associated overheads to Powerpoint and conversion of all figures to jpeg format. Colour was also added to figures.

This updating was funded by the Higher Education Academy Engineering Subject Centre.