Engineering Calculations Software

[MikeGlass1969]

Back in the day we used MathCAD in college for our engineering calculation.  Now, for the past 20 years I have worked in a old timers office.  I wasn't even allowed to use my own MathCAD license in the office to do calculations.  Everything was done by hand and calculators.  

So, what does everyone else out there use these days for this....   I want to bring myself into a more up-to-date world, now that I am on my own.

I do HVAC and Refrigeration and some Thermal Fluids and Simple electrical and controls....   Anything from ground up when building a food processing facility (except the civil or structural parts)

Thanks

 

[knight1fox3]

I've used MathCAD, Matlab, and Mathematica for in-depth engineering calculations and simulations. For the more basic variety Excel is usually sufficient.

 

[MikeGlass1969]

Excel... Hate it but use it the most.

Everything is subscription based these days.  So I will probably stay with Excel.

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

MathCAD, while relatively simple in comparison to Matlab and Mathematica, is still preferred, compared to Excel, for structural and fluid calculations as the output can easily be formatted into an engineering report.  

 

[blybrook PE]

I try to stick with MathCAD and Excel. If it's a document that needs to be shared, it'll be wholly in Excel to prevent issues between individuals.

Not everyone can easily decipher the MathCAD nomenclature or layout; no matter how user friendly you try to make it. The older versions have some issues with current operating systems, and the newer subscription service just plain sucks. Be aware of that if you decide to upgrade to the newer version.

 

[MikeGlass1969]

Yep...   Not upgrading.   I have MathCad Versions 5,6 and 8...   8 is loaded on an XP virtual machine that I can carry on a flash drive.  I am told no versions past 8 will no longer activate.

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

I just use Excel.

 

[MA_PE]

Our office generally uses MathCad for simple calculations.  If there are numerous repetitive calculations we'll build an excel spreadsheet and provide a sample calculation in MathCad.  Of course specialty analysis like FEM will use different software (ABAQUS, FEMAP,....) and we use some other design software like RISA and other specific engineering software for beams, columns, etc.

I'm surprised the "old timer's" office wouldn't let you use MathCad 20 years ago.  Our "old timers" embraced it and thought it was great back then.