Mechanical Engineering Software

Q: I'm a mechanical engineering student in Canada. Recently, I found a small software on MDSolids site who could help me a lot in understanding mechanics of materials theory. I was just wondering if someone could know other free and ease to use softwares (not CAD systems) that I should know and use as a mechanical engineering student. I just don't want to experience the: if i had known this software before..., again

A: Feel free to go to and bookmark http://www.MechEngineer.com/ It is a FREE resource for mechanical engineers, designers, and drafters. You will find links to free software sites in the Resource area of the website. I am glad that you have the passion to learn more! You can try requesting a demo version of Working Model 3D, by MSC. With this,

you can see how things move, by building constraints, analysing the kinematics and dynamics of your design. It's free, but just that you can't save. The modern engineer should know about genetic algorithms like Generator, which uses a Darwinian evolutionary process to generate optimal solutions to complicated problems defined in an Excel spreadsheet. One simple ME-related aplication was to optimize the design of a fork lift mechanical linkage; Generator produced a better solution, faster than simulated annealing and other standard optimization algorithms. You can download a nearly full-function demo of Generator from http://www.iea.com/~nli.