The ability for students to access industry-standard software is important not only for their education, but it also ensures they have the necessary skills to enter the engineering workforce in the future.

An addition to the available student free software options is the SimScale Academic Program. This offering builds on SimScale’s existing community, and makes it easier for engineering students and academic researchers around the world to access their cloud-based computer-aided engineering (CAE) software.

The CAE software platform is ideal for students because it does not require any additional downloads, installations or hardware. Instead, the software is accessible for free, and operates in a cloud based high-performance computing (HPC) environment for finite element analysis (FEA), computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and thermal analysis.

Because the heavy computing is all done in the cloud, students don’t require a high-end workstation or server to get their work done – rather any device running with a Windows, Mac, Linux, or Chrome OS and an internet connection can run the software. For students and educators with a tight budget, this is a definite benefit.

What Does the SimScale Academic Program Offer Engineering Students?

For engineering students, the SimScale Academy is a learning platform offering online courses and tutorials about engineering simulation. Currently, two courses are available: a Biomedical Engineering Workshop and a CFD Master Class. The company plans to add more courses in the upcoming year.

For educators looking to teach with simulation in the classroom, the program offers tutorials and other resources for learning how to use the software and strategies to bring it into the classroom.

There is also a 3-week “Add on” curriculum with OnShape, which comes with lesson plans, homework assignments and student assessments. This curriculum focuses on teaching students how to use FEA and the SimScale platform to analyze, optimize and improve product designs.

Though the software is available for free without being part of the academic program, any simulations made using the software are available to be viewed by other members of the community.

One benefit of the program is the introduction of a special Academic Plan that is available for qualified students, researchers, and educators and enables them to create private projects. This 6-month plan is aimed at:

• Students who are members of a Student Design Team (ie: Formula Student, Formula SAE, SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Design, etc.)
• Students who are writing their Thesis or Dissertation
• Students who are enrolled in a school course and have a valid code from their instructor
• Researchers and educators who are teaching a course or working on a research project

For more information about the SimScale Academic Program, visit their website.