Bringing SimScale into the Classroom with Professor Mario Larreta

After discovering SimScale while looking for free software to design a cold brew coffee maker, Mario Larreta, a professor of mechanical engineering, is now bringing our cloud-based simulation platform into the classroom in his Computer-Aided Engineering and Design course at the Instituto Tecnologico de Tijuana in Mexico.

engineering simulation for students with Professor Mario Larreta — Professor Mario Larreta teaching engineering simulation with SimScale to his students

This is Mario’s very first time teaching a class to students, after working in the automation industry for the past seven years. Working with young people, he says, “It’s fun because they want to learn, and I like to teach”.

Computer-Aided Engineering and Design Course

The Computer-Aided Engineering and Design course consists of three modules focusing on design, simulation, and manufacturing, respectively. “For the simulation part of the course I chose to use SimScale—it’s very interesting because it’s cloud-based, you can shut off the computer and know that your simulation is still running on the server.”

For many of his students, using SimScale was their first exposure to simulation software. “They were amazed at how fast it was to get the results,” Mario laughs.

Even with the quick results using simulation, he still stresses to them the importance of using hand calculations to provide a point of comparison for the simulation results. For example, in one of the course exercises, the students calculated the stresses in an aluminum beam under an applied load before running the full simulation in SimScale.

Simple Beam finite element analysis engineering simulation for students — Calculating the stresses in an aluminum beam with SimScale

In a second project, the students analyzed the von Mises stress in a connecting rod under a pressure load.

Connecting Rod Simulation von mises stress analysis — Von Mises stress in a connecting rod under a pressure load

Starting this month, Mario will be teaching this Computer-Aided Engineering and Design course to two more classes of students. We look forward to seeing their simulations in the SimScale Public Projects Library!

Thanks for sharing your story with us, Mario Larreta! Interested in reading more stories about how people are using SimScale? Check out the following blog posts:

3D Printing & Simulation to Design Affordable Prosthetic Arms

Learning SimScale through CAE Workshops: Guillermo Giraldo

To discover all the simulation features provided by SimScale, download the document below.