What is ur Opinion about Engineering Simulation Programs?

Question

What do u think about Engineering Simulation Programs?

I know that its an aid for Engineering,Are there any disavantages in using them,i mean u loose any capability of imagining urself n analysing?

Can any-one tell names of some such programs other than MATLAB,PSPICE for Electrical n Electronics Engineering.

Answer 1

I used TUTSIM. I found it essential for transient response analysis, simulation, and tuning. It is impossible to do all the simulations by hand, each time the parameters must be changed. But these problems only present themselves in sophisticated reasearch programs.
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Answer 2

It is important to remember that "simulation" means "not the real thing".
Every simulation involves compromise, so to rely upon the simulation as a predictor of real-life is to take a risk.
If you use a simulation to predict how well your design will perform in real life, be very sure that you do not fool yourself into thinking you have also tested your design and proven that it will work in real life. Real life always contains variables that were not in our model.
The British Rail example is likely a case in point where the customer needs to know that the final solution will work under all manner of environmental, maintenance, and common useage conditions. It is good to know that the solution has been properly sized, and that the materials and design will meet the specified performance requirements, which a simulation model can often confirm. To accept the liability that someday the device may break or fail and passengers may be injured or killed, British Rail also needs to ask: How was the model "calibrated" against real-world examplars? What is the probability of error in the results? What is the safety factor in the design, to cover inservice degradations like maintenance actions, corrosion, stresses, etc.?
Using a good simulation tool is helpful, but it is not a substitute for good Engineering.
Over the years, we Engineers have come to use this maxim to summarize all of the above: "A fool with a tool is still a fool."

As to whether using these tools can cause one to unlearn or skip learning important knowledge or calculation skills - that comes down to you. If you expect to be able to trust the results you get & you expect to convince your customers that they also can trust the results, then you will have to know what you need to know to do your job well. Using the tools will not rob you of that knowledge.
Just don't forget that maxim...

Answer 3

The simulation programs used in engineering are, in my opinion, probably worth many times what you have to pay for them. The programs save engineers countless hours of work and customers thousands of dollars in rework/repair cost. There is no reason NOT to use these programs. They take a little work to understand, but they help the practicing engineer design better, cheaper, safer projects. A Google search of "engineering simulators" will bring back a lot more simulators than the ones you mentioned above...

Answer 4

They are good tools, however I have come across problems of convincing your customer that your result is correct.

I used a program to simulate life of propshafts for British Rail, but they refused to accept the result, saying how do they know the programme was correct, and said they would only accept the result if I used only a B.S. booklet to calculate the life as calculated in the booklet.

Strangely enough, the B.S. booklet specified, was created to calculate the life of concrete bridges!

Answer 5

I'm not all that wild about using them as teaching tools. It's more important for a student to actually get the 'feel' of builidng something with real parts.
But I quite like them for doing design work. They can save a lot of time.

Doug