Abstract
With the introduction of reliable and high speed computers in the past few decades, together with the demand of today's engineering problems which include the design of large and complex structures, the processes of data generation and organisation present a real challenge. The main theme of this thesis is to develop a new method of structural analysis which is based on the concepts of formices and plenices. This method simplifies the processes of data generation and organisation in engineering design. Formex algebra is a mathematical system that may be used to represent and process any form of configuration. In engineering design, the basic approach is to represent the interconnection pattern of a structural configuration by a formex. This information is then related to other relevant data of the structure which is needed for the analysis by a plenix. A plenix is a mathematical object that can be used to simplify the processes of data organisation and decision making in automated analytical procedures. The mathematics of formices and plenices provide a powerful and versatile tool for representation and processing configurations, and organising information.