Solidworks enables students to access CAD software

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Sep 24, 2009

Texas AandM, an engineering university, has purchased more licences of Solidworks to expand computer-aided-design (CAD) software access to 16,500 students in a range of programs.

Through a Dassault Systemes (DS) Solidworks Corporation 'Student Access Initiative', students will now have Solidworks software on their laptops and home PCs as well as on school-owned computers across a variety of disciplines, including petroleum, nuclear, mechanical, industrial, electrical and biomedical engineering.

All other schools at the university, including the college of science and veterinary medicine, will also have access to Solidworks.

Mitch Wittneben, senior systems analyst for Texas AandM, said: 'It [Solidworks] helps students better understand important physical engineering principles, for example, or to understand the interaction of linkages between bones and prosthetics.' The university has maintained 500 licences of Solidworks since 1999.

The recent purchase adds 2,000 new licences in department-run laboratories and on open-access desktops, which are campus computers that any student can use.

An additional 4,000 licences will be available for students to download to their personal PCs, enabling them to study on the same software used by their professors and in the laboratories.

These 6,000 licences include Solidworks Simulation Premium for integrated design analysis and validation.

Another 10,000 students on the campus at large will be able to obtain Solidworks Standard software for their laptops and PCs.

Solidworks provides access for courses that focus on design concepts rather than the operation of software.

Solidworks Simulation Premium gives students an insight into the strengths and weaknesses of their designs and is intended to encourage them to delve further into the physical principles behind finite element, thermal, fluid and other analyses.

Students have used Solidworks to design simple test rigs and for the complex flow analysis of turbo machinery.

According to Wittneben, CAD and simulation software is invaluable to the design and study of artificial joints and other manmade devices, as well as how they interact with natural tissue.

Students create CAD models of bones and prostheses and study the way they come together and withstand stress and use.

Solidworks is also claimed to help students to engage with private companies.

Student mechanical engineering teams tackle class-based projects with 10-12 companies every year.

Using Solidworks ensures the sharing of designs with these companies, whose engineers often use Solidworks themselves.

Students work with companies such as 3M, FMC, Fluor, Halliburton, Lockheed Martin and Shell.

Solidworks is used for several of the region's industries, including oil and gas.

Students on the Texas AandM Racing Team used Solidworks to design their championship car that beat 30 teams from around the world in the 2009 Formula Hybrid competition.

The team won first place in the overall hybrid, design, presentation, endurance and autocross classes.

Texas AandM relies on authorised Solidworks reseller Texas Engineering Systems for software training, implementation and support.