Abstract This present paper has a complete and homogeneous presentation of plane stress and plane strain problems using the Strong Formulation Finite Element Method (SFEM). In particular, a greater emphasis is given to the numerical implementation of the governing and boundary conditions of the partial differential system of equations. The paper's focus is on numerical stability and accuracy related to elastostatic and elastodynamic problems. In the engineering literature, results are mainly reported for isotropic and homogeneous structures. In this paper, a composite structure is investigated. The SFEM solution is compared to the ones obtained using commercial finite element codes. Generally, the SFEM observes fast accuracy ...