With ever more intuitive user interfaces, the various software applications have become invaluable tools for teaching engineering and scientific principles to eager young minds.

Western University (formerly the University of Western Ontario) of London, ON, has embraced one such software platform in its Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Undergraduate Program (www.eng.uwo.ca/). The program uses applications that link up directly to the way the curriculum is laid out, exploiting the software’s modules to cover topics such as product design, finite element analysis, heat transfer and mechanical vibration.

According to Paul Kurowski (right), assistant professor in the department, SolidWorks from Dassault Systèmes (www.solidworks.com) plays a significant role in his course work in each year of the program. Under the supervision of Marie Blanchard, director of World Education Markets, DS SolidWorks, the company maintains a teaching blog (http://blogs.solidworks.com/teacher/) for educators such as Kurowski to share ideas on a regular basis.

While CAD is just touched upon in the first year Introductory Design and Innovation Studio course, says Kurowski, “the second year course covers advanced CAD and topics such as Design for Assembly and Design for Manufacturing. From students’ perspectives, CAD, in this case implemented with SolidWorks, is the most visible connection between the first and the second year design courses.” 

He noted that with a constant, common interface for solid modeling and model assembly, students don’t waste time re-learning basic software menus. The same is true for motion – kinematics and dynamics – where students are creating assembly animations, Kurowski added.

“In the second year design course students are given an opportunity to obtain SolidWorks certification as a bonus. An average of 50% of classes pass the certification exam and majority of students becomes proficient in using CAD for modeling and detailed design, including engineering drawings and documentation,” said Kurowski. 


Courses linked in the Mechanical and Materials Engineering program at Western University.

“Course deliverables are industrial quality design reports and documentation which are prepared under guidelines and with help of technicians from University Machine Services. Good knowledge of CAD forms a stepping stone to several third year courses while skills in design documentation feed the internship programs after third year.”

In third year course on Finite Element Analysis (FEA), the use of CAD is expanded to include FEA simulation. Close integration between CAD and FEA requires that FEA users are well familiar with CAD. 

“Therefore, students already proficient in CAD benefit from not having to spend time on CAD specific issues common in FEA applications,” said Kurowski. “This opens up space for both more theory and for solving more advanced and applied problems which again better prepare students for internships and for work in industry.”

He added that since the third year FEA course covers both structural and thermal analyses as applied to mechanical components and to heat transfer problems, it in only natural to link it to other third year courses such as Heat Transfer. “Structural problems are studied in the Finite Element course along the applicable theory while thermal problems are illustrated with FEA in the Heat Transfer course. 

“Further, the Finite Element Analysis course is linked to the Mechanical Components course by sharing assignments and analysis problems.”The third year Finite Element Analysis course leads to fourth year Mechanical Vibration that expands the use of FEA into the realm of vibration analysis. All courses also lead to the fourth year capstone design project, Kurowski said.

Finally, Kurowski explained that the department has close to 500 multi-seat site licenses of SolidWorks Premium with all the necessary modules, supported by reseller CAD Microsolutions (www.cadmicro.com) of Toronto.

The application is installed on all student computers and laptops, remaining valid as long as the student is registered with Western University.

With the assistance of CAD Microsolutions, the university is currently evaluating an implementation of SolidWorks ePDM, the company’s data management application.

In addition to teaching at Western University, Kurowski is also an author and the president of Design Generator Inc. (www.designgenerator.com), a consulting firm.