Reddit reviews A First Course in Finite Elements
We found 3 Reddit comments about A First Course in Finite Elements. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
John Wiley Sons
We found 3 Reddit comments about A First Course in Finite Elements. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
https://www.amazon.com/First-Course-Finite-Elements/dp/0470035803
This is the reading required to get you started. Matlab is suitable for your purposes, but asking on this sub isn't useful.
Given the simplicity of your problem, you could probably derive an analytical or semi-analytical solution... But this depends on how linear your problem is.
Some good reads:
http://www.amazon.com/A-First-Course-Finite-Elements/dp/0470035803/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1335739361&sr=8-2
http://www.amazon.com/Concepts-Applications-Element-Analysis-Edition/dp/0471356050/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335739382&sr=1-1
You might look in to the documentation for Ansys, there is a lot of good detail regarding how it works and different models for validation of different FEA types.
A good book iA first course in Finite Elements