PREFACE - PAK - Finite Element Program for Engineering and Bioengineering
Miloš Kojić
Abstract
It is already 50 years from the decision that we are going to try to develop our own finite element program. Nobody could imagine, even in their best dreams, that we could reach the stage where we are today. This special issue of our journal and the written text as a monograph serve to witness our journey, how, from scratch and technologically a “stone age” (using punched cards, one computer in town with 1Mb memory), it is now possible to have the PAK software as a huge system. We document this development and application in various technical and scientific fields by a large number of participants and institutions.
In order to keep the form of the journal, but also provide the basic information about our package, we have divided the entire content into two parts: I PAK – Finite Element Program for Engineering and Bioengineering, and II Selected Review Papers. The first part includes the main information of the PAK software: Authors, History of the PAK Development, PAK Versions-Moduli, PAK Elements, Material Models, and Bibliography. A large number of researchers and engineers participated in the PAK development and applications, and we list them in the Section Authors. The next two sections provide the main characteristics of the PAK system. The overall impact of the PAK project is documented in the last section, where our books and papers related to the PAK are listed. We mention here that the history section gives the entire journey from 1975 to 2025, with notifications of the main, decisive moments, institutions, and persons who shaped the entire journey along the road of success. The PAK software represents a large number of versions, which are specific to each of the fields since the PAK has been developed primarily for research, education, and application, rather than a commercial package. We believe that this part of the Special Issue of the JSSCM gives a global picture of what the PAK is.
The second part contains a selection of review papers that cover most of the areas of PAK application. Also, most of the PAK developers and participants in the PAK use took part in PART II so that the complete picture could be viewed.
It is a great opportunity and a pleasure to thank many domestic and foreign institutions and the enormous number of people all over the world who helped us keep this project expanding over the decades. We have mentioned some of them in our History section, but the list is far from being complete. Besides the Publishers who helped this Special Issue, we would particularly emphasize the support of the industry of the Kragujevac region and Serbia, the City of Kragujevac, the Ministry of Science of the Republic of Serbia, and the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Last, but most important, is the support of our families to all of us involved in the PAK project over many years. We owe our families gratitude and admiration.
In order to keep the form of the journal, but also provide the basic information about our package, we have divided the entire content into two parts: I PAK – Finite Element Program for Engineering and Bioengineering, and II Selected Review Papers. The first part includes the main information of the PAK software: Authors, History of the PAK Development, PAK Versions-Moduli, PAK Elements, Material Models, and Bibliography. A large number of researchers and engineers participated in the PAK development and applications, and we list them in the Section Authors. The next two sections provide the main characteristics of the PAK system. The overall impact of the PAK project is documented in the last section, where our books and papers related to the PAK are listed. We mention here that the history section gives the entire journey from 1975 to 2025, with notifications of the main, decisive moments, institutions, and persons who shaped the entire journey along the road of success. The PAK software represents a large number of versions, which are specific to each of the fields since the PAK has been developed primarily for research, education, and application, rather than a commercial package. We believe that this part of the Special Issue of the JSSCM gives a global picture of what the PAK is.
The second part contains a selection of review papers that cover most of the areas of PAK application. Also, most of the PAK developers and participants in the PAK use took part in PART II so that the complete picture could be viewed.
It is a great opportunity and a pleasure to thank many domestic and foreign institutions and the enormous number of people all over the world who helped us keep this project expanding over the decades. We have mentioned some of them in our History section, but the list is far from being complete. Besides the Publishers who helped this Special Issue, we would particularly emphasize the support of the industry of the Kragujevac region and Serbia, the City of Kragujevac, the Ministry of Science of the Republic of Serbia, and the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Last, but most important, is the support of our families to all of us involved in the PAK project over many years. We owe our families gratitude and admiration.
