tion, analysis, designing, prototyping, testing, and lastly,
fabrication. Notethat much work is involved before the fabrication
of the ?nal product or system. This isto ensure the workability of
the ?nished product, as well as for cost effectiveness. Theprocess
is illustrated as a ?owchart in Figure 1.1. This process is often
iterative in nature,meaning that some of the procedures are
repeated based on the results obtained at a currentstage, so as to
achieve an optimal performance at the lowest cost for the system to
be built.Therefore, techniques related to modelling and simulation
in a rapid and effective way playan increasingly important role,
resulting in the application of the FEM being multipliednumerous
times because of this.This book deals with topics related mainly to
modelling and simulation, which areunderlined in Figure 1.1. Under
these topics, we shall address the computational aspects,which are
also underlined in Figure 1.1. The focus will be on the techniques
of physical,mathematical and computational modelling, and various
aspects of computational simu-lation. A good understanding of these
techniques plays an important role in building anadvanced
engineering system in a rapid and cost effective way.So what is the
FEM? The FEM was ?rst used to solve problems of stress analysis,
andhas since been applied to many other problems like thermal
analysis, ?
