As a widely accepted numerical method, finite element analysis (referred to as FEA) was firstly developed and quickly got matured in the 1960's. Intensive mathematical work on convergence studies was carried out in the two decades that followed.

In mechanical analysis, using FEA to solve field problems, components of mechanical variables such as displacements and stresses are considered piece-wisely distributed and the solid structure under analysis is discretized into small regions, named "elements." In each individual of these elements the mechanical variables are assumed continuous and represented by certain polynomial functions or other smooth functions, called "interpolation functions." At the adjacent edges of the elements, especially the corner points that are referred to as "nodal" points, the variables are set equal and these conditions or requirements are called the "compatibility conditions." As the number of elements increases, the discretized mechanical system approaches the reality.

Commercial codes started to appear in the market in early 1980's. The worldwide popular codes are ANSYS, ABAQUS, NASTRAN, SDRC/I-DEAS, ADINA, LS-DYNA and so on, for mechanical , civil, and geotechnical engineering analysis. Lately, other software or interface software are developed to tackle the requirements of special engineering problems. In particular, Coventorware, Cadence, IntelliSuite, and more recently, Capa, are made to solve multi-physics and sensor design problems.

Commercial codes are mostly general solvers and robust, yet may have certain advantages and drawbacks when they are used to solve different problems. Likewise, intelligent handle of each particular problem is essential to grant quality FEA results. A few primary concerns when performing an FEA practice are listed in the following.