Engineering education involves communicating information between generations, from experienced engineers to young engineers and students. However, common sense based on experience often differs greatly between different generations. Simulation techniques were nonexistent or immature when the senior engineers of today were educated. Consequently, they do not blindly trust technology. However, some young engineers and students who were educated after the development of computer technology are convinced that findings based on computer-aided engineering (CAE) are equally valid as those obtained in real life. In the present study, we consider the construction of waribashi bridges and taketombos as examples of PBL(problem-based learning) projects to correct the discrepancy between real-life experience and virtual experience. Through these projects, students recognized the usefulness of 3D-CAD(computer-aided design) and CAE for engineering design, the limits to the applicability of CAE, and the importance of observing actual phenomena.
The International Conference on Business & Technology Transfer 2012.6 (0), 108-119, 2012
The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers