In October 2003, NAFEMS began to publish a series of articles in benchmark magazine, aimed at covering a number of basic FEA principals in a readable and useful format. This “knowledge base” series continued to run over the next seven years, based on the principal that it is always useful to reinforce basic concepts and theories, no matter how advanced the user of the technology has become. In that time, topics as diverse as mesh convergence, pressure vessel stresses, and fatigue have been covered by the author, Mark Chillery of Chalice Engineering. The aim has always been to outline the basic theories behind each topic, and give the reader a quick “one-page” refresher on the subject matter, without delving too deeply into the specifics of the area being covered. After around 23 articles spanning many aspects of FEA, it was decided that the series itself had run its course, but that the material produced could provide great value to analysts by being put together in one reference manual, which could be used as a day-to-day guide to the basics of some of the engineering analysts most critical areas of work. And so this ‘compilation’ has now been produced in order to bring these articles together in an accessible and user-friendly format, which we hope will prove invaluable as an initial reference into a multitude of topics. The articles themselves do not claim to be “definitive” guides to each topic, nor are they the only manner in which some of the analysis processes defined can be carried out – rather they are written from the perspective of an experienced analyst, working with the technology day in, day out. This compilation also differs from many NAFEMS publications, in that the articles have not been extensively edited by the NAFEMS technical working groups. Each article itself could be developed into a publication many times the length of the original by going through this process, but the aim of the articles is not to provide an all-encompassing view of the topic being covered, rather, they should be treated as an introduction to the basics, to underpin basic concepts, and inspire further reading. We hope you find the book useful, and that it helps in some way towards reinforcing some technical knowledge that you use in your everyday work. As the byline says - “Don’t Forget the Basics...”