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This is an introductory tutorial on the redAnTS finite-element analysis (FEA) toolbox that runs within MATLAB. After the toolbox is installed, it can be called from MATLAB by typing redAnTSat redAnTS at the MATLAB prompt. Since, as FEA babies, we've got to learn to crawl before we can walk, this tutorial takes you through the steps for solving a simple problem with a known solution from elementary theory. This is handy since we can validate the FEA solution by comparing it with the corresponding theoretical result. After you have done a number of FEA solutions for basic problems and validated the results against theory or handbook values, you'll be off running and ready to tackle more complex problems that don't readily yield to paper-and-pencil calculations. (But don't throw the pencil out since it is absolutely essential to verify the computational results with back-of-the-envelope calculations. Consider this as advice from somebody who has been bitten many times in uncomfortable parts of the anatomy by easily trusting results that the computer spits out.)

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• Step 1: Start-up and preliminary set-up
• Step 2: Generate finite-element model
• Step 3: Specify inputs
• Step 4: Assemble and solve global system
• Step 5: Post-process the solution

Let's dive into step 1 without further ado.

Go to Step 1: Start-up and preliminary set-up