With the increasing need for large columnless structures in today's society, glued-laminated Triax domes are being designed and built. Even though many have already been constructed, no methods have been established to accurately determine the ultimate load capacity or the factor of safety. Several ABAQUS finite element analyses have been conducted at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University to determine these values (Davalos, 1989). The work in this area has been slowed due to the absence of a preprocessor for the creation of the input data file. The use of a preprocessor could greatly accelerate the analysis process and prove to be more efficient. The primary objective of this thesis is to present a clear detailed procedure for the creation of the input data file using the Integrated Design Engineering Analysis Software package (I-DEAS) version 4.1. In addition to meeting this objective, several other topics concerning I-DEAS modeling guidelines and post processing features are discussed. The results oT a linear finite element analysis is also presented. The use of a preprocessor is essential for the creation of the triax input data fiIe. I-DEAS can not only meet this challenge, but can provide assistance in all facets of finite element modeling. / Master of Science