Introduction to Finite Element Analysis: Formulation, Verification and Validation

Barna Szabó is co-founder and president of Engineering Software Research and Development, Inc. (ESRD), the company that produces the professional finite element analysis software StressCheck®. Prior to his retirement from the School of Engineering and Applied Science of Washington University in 2006 he served as the Albert P. and Blanche Y. Greensfelder Professor of Mechanics. His primary research interest is assurance of quality and reliability in the numerical stimulation of structural and mechanical systems by the finite element method. He has published over 150 papers in refereed technical journals. Several of them in collaboration with Professor Ivo Babuška, with whom he also published a book on finite element analysis (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1991). He is a founding member and Fellow of the US Association for Computational Mechanics. Among his honors are election to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences as External Member and an honorary doctorate.

Ivo Babuška’s research has been concerned mainly with the reliability of computational analysis of mathematical problems and their applications, especially by the finite element method. He was the first to address a posteriori error estimation and adaptivity in finite element analysis. His research papers on these subjects published in the 1970s have been widely cited. His joint work with Barna Szabó on the p-version of the finite element method established the theoretical foundations and the algorithmic structure for this method. His recent work has been concerned with the mathematical formulation and treatment of uncertainties which are present in every mathematical model. In recognition of his numerous important contributions, Professor Babuška received may honors, which include honorary doctorates, medals and prizes and election to prestigious academies.