COURSE CODE: EIE325
USE OF ENGINEERING SOFTWARE PACKAGES
Department of Electrical & Information Engineering, Covenant University, Ota
COMPUTER-AIDED ENGINEERING
This is the use of computer software to simulate performance in
order to improve product designs or assist in the resolution of
engineering problems for a wide range of industries.
Computer-aided engineering (CAE) is the broad usage of
computer software to aid in engineering analysis tasks.
CAE is a broad term used by the electronic design automation
(EDA) industry for the use of computers to design, analyze, and
manufacture products and processes.
CAE includes CAD (computer-aided design) - the use of a
computer for drafting and modeling designs; and CAM
(computer-aided manufacturing) - the use of computers for
managing manufacturing processes.
CAE APPLICATIONS
CAE applications support a wide range of engineering disciplines or phenomena
including:
Stress and dynamics analysis on components and assemblies using Finite
Element Analysis (FEA)
Thermal and fluid analysis using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
Kinematics and dynamic analysis of mechanisms (multibody dynamics)
Acoustics analysis using FEA or a boundary element method (BEM)
Mechatronic System Simulation
Mechanical Event Simulation (MES)
Control systems Analysis
Simulation of manufacturing processes like casting, molding and die press
forming
Optimization of the product or process
BENEFITS OF CAE
Reduced product development cost and time Improved
product quality and durability.
Design decisions can be made based on their impact on
performance.
Designs can be evaluated and refined using computer
simulations rather than physical prototype testing, saving
money and time.
Provide performance insights earlier in the development
process, when design changes are less expensive to make.
Helps engineering teams manage risk and understand the
performance implications of their designs.
THE NATURE OF SIMULATION
Simulation: Imitate the operations of a facility or process,
usually via computer
What’s being simulated is the system
To study system, often make
assumptions/approximations, both logical and
mathematical, about how it works
These assumptions form a model of the system
If model structure is simple enough, could use
mathematical methods to get exact information on
questions of interest — analytical solution
But most complex systems require models that are also complex
(to be valid)
Must be studied via simulation — evaluate model
numerically and collect data to estimate model characteristics
Example: Manufacturing company considering extending its
plant
Build it and see if it works out?
Simulate current, expanded operations — could also investigate
many other issues along the way, quickly and cheaply
Designing and analyzing manufacturing systems
Evaluating military weapons systems or their logistics
requirements
Determining hardware requirements or protocols for
communications networks
Determining hardware and software requirements for a
computer system
Designing and operating transportation systems such as
airports, freeways, ports, and subways
Evaluating designs for service organizations such as call
centers, fast-food restaurants, hospitals, and post offices
Reengineering of business processes
Determining ordering policies for an inventory system
Analyzing financial or economic systems
SYSTEMS, MODELS, AND SIMULATION
System: A collection of entities (people, parts, messages,
machines, servers, …) that act and interact together toward
some end
State of a system: Collection of variables and their values
necessary to describe the system at that time
TYPES OF SYSTEMS
Discrete
◼ State variables change instantaneously at separated points
in time
◼ Bank model: State changes occur only when a customer
arrives or departs
Continuous
◼ State variables change continuously as a function of time
◼ Airplane flight: State variables like position, velocity change
continuously
Many systems are partly discrete, partly continuous
WAYS TO STUDY A SYSTEM
1.2 Systems, Models, and Simulation
(cont’d.)
Classification of simulation models
Staticvs. dynamic Deterministic vs. stochastic
Continuous vs. discrete
Most operational models are dynamic, stochastic,
and discrete – will be called discrete-event
simulation models
STEPS IN A SOUND SIMULATION STUDY
