The purpose of the sixth edition, which is fully adapted to the International System of Units, is to present a comprehensible and documented approach to the finite element method, suitable for both undergraduate and graduate students. 

The book was written to serve as the main "tool" for undergraduate students in civil and mechanical engineering, who will certainly deal mainly with stress analysis and heat transfer, but also covers topics related to fluid flow in porous media and through hydraulic networks, electrical networks, and electrostatics. The concepts are presented in a simple form and are accompanied by many examples of problems.

The book presents the theoretical background and the most basic handling methods for the following topics:

• simple springs and bars, two-dimensional and three-dimensional network analysis
• beam bending, frame analysis, mesh analysis, and spatial frame analysis
• simple plane stress/strain elements, leading to more complex plane stress/strain elements, and their applications
• axisymmetric stress analysis
• isoparametric formulation of the finite element method
• three-dimensional stress analysis
• plate bending analysis
• heat transfer and mass transfer of fluids
• fluid flow through porous media and around solid bodies, hydraulic networks, electrical networks, and electrostatic analysis
• thermal stress analysis 
• time-dependent stress and heat transfer problems

In addition, the book includes appendices on: matrix algebra, methods for solving systems of equations, theory of elasticity, equivalent nodal forces, and principle of virtual work. The book contains more than 100 solved examples for better understanding of the theory, while at the end of the chapters more than 570 problems are given for solution. The answers for many of them are included at the end of the book.

Book contents: •Introduction •Introduction to the stiffness (displacement) method •Development of network equations •Development of beam equations •Frame and grid equations •Development of plane stress and plane strain equations •Practical issues of simulation, interpretation of results, and examples of plane stress/strain analysis •Development of triangular linear strain equations •Axisymmetric elements •Isoparametric formulation •Three-dimensional stress analysis •Plate bending element •Heat transfer and mass transfer •Fluid flow in porous media and through hydraulic networks; electrical networks and electrostatics •Thermal stress •Dynamics of structures and time-dependent heat transfer •Appendices

Scientific editing of the Greek edition: Georgios E. Stavrulakis, Technical University of Crete