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In article <1992Dec14.212505.27326@cs.wayne.edu> landman@splat.physics.wayne.edu writes:
>       I have a question about FEA, specifically software and hardware
>   platforms.  A friend is looking into the possibility of purchasing 
>   hardware and software to perform FEA calculations for his company.
>   I was wondering what software exists (commercial and PD) and what
>   platforms are recommended.

I have recently been asking the same question. Two avenues which may 
be worth following up are:

The NAG finite element library (FE03). This is a collection of 
subroutines from which one may assemble an FE program. Well-annotated 
(FORTRAN) source code is included. In addition there is an applications 
library (with source code) which uses the basic routines. The idea is 
solve ones own FE problem by suitably altering the template of the 
application programs. As a bonus one learns a lot about finite element
programming. The manuals which come with the library are excellent and
constitute a good introduction to finite elements. The library is quite 
cheap by commercial standards (about US$500). FAX numbers for UK, US 
and Germany are +44 865 310139, +1 708 9712706, +49 89 3207396.

A second source of FE routines is the book by Zienkiewicz and Taylor
_The Finite Element Method, vol 1_ (McGraw-Hill 1989). This book contains
an extensive chapter on FE programming, and incudes the source code to a 
suite of programs called PCFEAP. The code can be compiled to run on PC's
or on Unix machines. The FORTRAN 66 is of the spaghetti variety, but I
have hopes of understanding it one day!

Both these programs naturally lack the sophisticated front and rear ends
of the commercial packages. On the other hand, if one has a non-standard 
application then this may be the only way to go. It requires some effort
but is worthwhile in the end!

Roger Young