Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering

AKA CAE - Computer aided engineering

Computer aided engineering is the use of information technology for supporting engineers in tasks such as analysis, simulation, design, manufacture, planning, diagnosis and repair. Software tools have been developed for providing support to these activities are considered CAE tools.

CAE tools are being used, for example, to analyze the robustness and performance of components and assemblies. It encompasses simulation, validation and optimization of products and manufacturing tools. In the future CAE systems will be major providers of information to help support design teams in decision making.

In regards to information networks, CAE systems are individually considered a single node on a total information network and each node may interact with other nodes on the network. CAE tools are very widely used in auto industry. In fact, their use has enabled automakers to reduce product development cost and time while improving safety, comfort, and durability of the vehicles they produce.

CAE systems can provide support to businesses, this is achieved by the use of reference architectures and their ability to place information views on the business process. Reference architecture is the basis from which information model, especially product and manufacturing models.

The term CAE has also been used by some in the past to describe the use of computer technology within engineering in a broader sense than just engineering analysis.

Civil engineering is a broad field of engineering dealing with planning, construction, and maintenance of fixed structures, or public works.

Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of a wide range of computer-based tools that assist engineers, architects and other design professionals in their design activities. It is the main geometry authoring tool within the Product Lifecycle Management process and involves both software and sometimes special-purpose hardware. Current packages range from 2D vector based drafting systems to 3D solid and surface modellers. CAD is used to design, develop and optimize products, which can be goods used by end consumers or intermediate goods used in other products. CAD is also extensively used in the design of tools and machinery used in the manufacture of components, and in the drafting and design of all types of buildings, from small residential types (houses) to the largest commercial and industrial structures (hospitals and factories).

Railway Systems Engineering is a multi faceted engineering discipline dealing with the design, construction and operation of all types of railway systems. It encompasses a wide range of engineering disciplines, including Civil engineering, Computer engineering, Electrical engineering, Mechanical engineering and Production engineering. A great many other engineering sub disciplines are also called upon.

This is an ever-changing industry with many well-known products and companies being taken over and merged with others

Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) use of a wide range of Product Lifecycle Management computer based software tools that assist engineers, Tool and die makers and CNC machinists, in the manufacture or prototyping of product components. 3D models of components generated in CAD software are used to generate CNC code to drive numerical controled machine tools. This involves the user in selecting what type of tool, machining process and paths that are to be used.

Machining process
Most machining progresses through four stages, each of which is implemented by a variety of basic and sophisticated strategies, depending on the material and the software available.

The stages are:

Roughing
This process begins with raw stock, known as billet, and cuts very roughly to shape of the final model. In milling, result often gives the appearance of terraces, because the strategy has taken advantage of ability to cut the model horizontally. Common strategies are zig-zag clearing, offset clearing, plunge roughing, rest-roughing.
Semi - finishing
This process begins with a roughed part unevenly approximates the model and cuts within a fixed offset distance from the model. The semi-finishing pass must leave a small amount of material so the tool can cut accurately while finishing, but not so little that the tool and material deflect instead of shearing. Common strategies are raster passes, waterline passes, constant step over passes, pencil milling.
Finishing
Finishing involves a slow pass across material in very fine steps to produce the finished part. In finishing, the step between one pass and another is minimal. Feed rates are low and spindle speeds are raised to produce an accurate surface.
Contour Milling
In milling applications on hardware with five or more axes, a separate finishing process called contouring can be preformed. Instead of stepping down fine-grained increments to approximate a surface, the workpiece is rotated to make the cutting surfaces of the tool tangent to the ideal part features. This produces an excellent surface finish with high dimensional tolerances.

Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) manufacturing philosophy in which the functions for the organization, from product definition to the disposition of the final product, are achieved using computer, communication, and information technologies.

Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) embodies three components essential to the implementation of flexible design & manufacturing:

the means for data storage, retrieval, manipulation and presentation
the mechanisms by which to sense state, and modify substance
the methodologies by which to unite them.