CAD or Computer Assisted Design gets used by a lot of professionals in various fields that include engineers, architects, and IT professionals. With CAD, one can digitally simulate the designs of real-world products and constructions for virtual reference. Computer Assisted Design completes a design with precise dimensions, scale, and physical properties that aid in optimizing the design virtually and physically. CAD also gets referred to as CADD: Computer-Aided Design and Drafting. 2-D and 3-D design simulations can be made using CAD software. The designs made by CAD are simple to share, review, simulate, and edit with which one can bring unique ideas onto the drawing board. PRONTO, a numerical-control programming system developed in 1957 gave rise to CAD after several evolutions.
Types of CAD include 2D, 2.5D, 3D, CAD using neutral file formats, and CAD using native file formats. 2D CAD gets used in civil engineering to design, plan, section, sketch elevation views, and detail structures in a design environment. 2.5 D CAD is a medium-level design that lies between 2D and 3D. 3D CAD provides a realistic view of the designs generated for any field including civil and mechanical engineering. These can further be categorized into surface modeling, wire-frame modeling, and solid modeling.
AutoCAD, the software program that uses CAD, is a proprietary software program developed by Autodesk in 1982. It helps in the design of various infrastructure elements, manufacturing, and construction.
Computer Assisted Design or CAD gets used in engineering in many capacities. The main function of CAD is to design models with certain specifications. CAD gets used to design any kind of systems, mechanical components, and architectural blueprints with accurate measurements in 2D, 2.5D, and 3D. Engineers get to measure stress levels, simulate the flow of fluids, and calculate various tolerances through CAD designs. The strengths and weaknesses of various designs get analyzed through CAD, which becomes an asset while physically building the system, structure or construction.
CAE or Computer Aided Engineering tools are a part of CAD designs. These specific tools include finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics, and multi-body dynamics. With CAD and CAE, most design verification get done through simulations before starting of a project.
With CAD and CAE, the engineering industry gets benefited through more precision, control, faster design-execution, cost efficiency, and better documentation with collaboration. CAD gets used in engineering fields like Civil, Mechanical, Chemical, and Electrical.
Chemical engineers use CAD to design various large-scale processes with which they can simulate chemical conversions and analyze its consequences. The design processes include process-design, chemical reactions, process control and its development at a virtual scale before practically conducting it in laboratories after proper analysis. Electrical engineers use CAD for analyzing virtual electrical equipments and its design. The sub-disciplines include micro-electronics, electronics, telecommunications, and design of computers.
CAD is very much useful in Civil and Mechanical Engineering applications. With CAD, Civil Engineers design replicas of public and private constructions to analyze its feasibility. It aids to know the amount of building materials needed to manage the project, which got sanctioned after proper blueprint analysis. CAD gets used extensively in various sub-areas of civil engineering that include materials science, construction engineering, environmental engineering, and geotechnical engineering. Computer-Assisted-Design gets used to research on the improvement and modifications of various mechanical components. CAD has its applications in mechatronics, mechanics, thermodynamics, and structural analysis.
These include building-design, real-estate, design of buildings and bridges, construction, automotive, blueprint-design with precise measurements, and manufacturing industries.
These include designing, editing, and creating of 2D, 2.5D, and 3D models of buildings and bridges, customizing palettes, automating drawings of blueprint, importing and attaching data from PDF file, and applying CAD standards.
The features include drafting and designing in manufacturing industry, automating various mechanical tasks, and providing a library to promote designs.
The challenges include geometric shape control, interoperability across CAD and CAE platforms, and automatically morphing geometry in a meaningful way during design optimizations. The challenges span from shape control, interoperability, design-exploration and reverse-engineering, every designs in one space, understanding data, and retrieval of data among others.
Basically, there is pretty much no difference between Civil and Mechanical CAD. However, one gets used by civil engineers, architects, and building-designers whereas the other gets used by manufacturing companies.
Both Civil CAD and Mechanical CAD are united by a single foundation yet differ through the tools that get used by civil engineers and mechanical engineers. We cannot determine which is best or better. Care to find out through us at CADD International? We are waiting for you!
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