What Is Engineering Software?

By Author: Adam Nicolson
Total Articles: 475
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When people think of engineering software they usually automatically assume that it is some form of drawing software. Whilst this is true there is far more to engineering software than that.

Engineering software providers offer a massive range of software to a huge array of different kinds of engineers. Each engineering discipline needs its own unique set of software tools. For example, a CAD drawing package has very little usefulness for an engineer working as a chemist. Therefore, the range of software is huge and is, out of necessity, relatively industry specific.

Engineering Software for Structural Engineers

Engineers need to draw complex and intricate plans, so understandably there are indeed plenty of CAD (Computer Aided Design) software packages in the market place designed specifically for them. They vary from packages that allow you to draw up a set of plans from scratch to software that allows you to digitise existing engineering drawings. There are even packages that will take drawings from different digital sources and standardise them so they can be read by another software package.

The ...
... other main class of software for structural engineers are tools to assist them with the many complex calculations they have to perform every day. When a building is being designed strength has to be built into it which means that engineers have to be able to calculate how much force will be placed upon each individual building component. These calculations are there to ensure that the finished building is structurally sound in its entirety.

During the actual construction of the building, each component may be subjected to additional stresses as they are being manoeuvred into place. These forces also have to be calculated and taken into account. Not doing so could mean that a component breaks or fails whilst being manoeuvred into place.

There is software available to help engineers make the necessary calculations to assess the forces each component will be subjected to.

Building Code Specific Engineering Software

Building codes throughout the world vary. What may be an acceptable tolerance in one country may be illegal in another. In response to this software, providers have also developed region specific calculation software.

Oasys Software is one of the best engineering software providers available. Their 25 years experience gives them expertise to come up with software that really works.