The goal of this paper is to explore parallel methodologies with the desired flexibility, generality and accuracy for nonlinear dynamic finite element analysis on massively parallel computer. This paper tests the generality of the concurrent element processing approach and proposes a basic software design strategy to fully take advantage of features available in massively parallel computers having a hierarchical ring architecture. As a testbed, a large scale general purpose code, DYNA3D as used and modified as appropriate to test proposed parallel design concepts on a KSRI parallel computer.