In various surveys of NAFEMS members, Education and Training always comes very high on the list of priorities. In discussions at NAFEMS Education and Training Working Group it became apparent that there is a large gap between what is conventionally taught in an undergraduate engineering degree and the capability of finite element programs.

Consequently, the Education and Training Working Group has commissioned many documents for which the intended reader is the ‘1 year graduate’. This has been defined as a student who has graduated with a degree in engineering and spent one year doing linear elastic finite element calculations. Examples of such documents include: How to Undertake a Contact and Friction Analysis and How to Undertake a Finite Element Based Thermal Analysis.

In addition to these documents, the Education and Training Working Group is also aware that there are many pitfalls in undertaking finite element analyses. Accomplished analysts have learned to avoid many of these problematic areas through experience accumulated over a number of years. Few if any analysis, who have reflected on the outcome of their projects, would be able to say that they had not, either, made significant mistakes, or, if failed to take account of some natural phenomenon in their analyses.

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