With the current widespread use of engineering software in both the industry and academia, it has become imperative that engineering students develop a working knowledge of some of these applications. To encourage the use of simulation softwares in the analysis of machines and strucutres, IMechE NUST Student Chapter arranged a workshop on Finite Element Analysis (FEA) using commercial software.

FEA is a modeling application that can be used to re-create almost any engineering application in the form of a computer simulation. It uses highly optimized FEA algorithms method to predict how a product reacts to different real-world forces. It is one of the most widely used modeling applications in the industry.

To promote the importance of experimental validation for any simulation, experiments were performed before the start of each session and results were tabulated. After that, the experiment was recreated using the software and the results of the simulations were compared with the data from the experiments. The goal of this exercise was to show the participants how an entire experiment, with various variables, could be simulated using commercial packages, and results very much in line with the real experiment could be obtained.

The participants will work on different experiments. Experiments will be performed on Cantilever beam, simply supported beam and vehicle chassis. This was intended to demonstrate how these packages could be used for a variety of applications.

The goal of this workshop was to familiarize these students with the use of software to solve engineering problems. With this knowledge, it will be easier for them to initiate their own projects in the future. Additionally, their skillset will be more in line with the demands of the industry.