Increasing use is being made of commercial software to demonstrate the applications of finite element theory to mechanical or structural design. This book is aimed at those who are new to using commercially available finite element software for mechanical or structural design and those who are contemplating using this software. It emphasizes the practicalities of modelling with commercial software rather than the theory of finite elements. A step-by-step approach is used to describe the analysis process and a series of teaching examples, using simple test cases and real engineering probelms, are provided to complement this.