Web-based Self-paced Virtual Prototyping Tutorials

By permitting designers to realistically, accurately and quantitatively prototype and test multiple intermediate models within virtual environment, Virtual Prototyping (VP), also known as Simulation-Based Design (SBD), has rapidly gained popularity and become a crucial part of most engineering design processes. While there is a significant demand from industry for students trained in this methodology, currently there is not much room in engineering curriculum to permit widespread adoption in the lecture-based classroom. In this paper, we describe the rationale and the stages in the development of a series of web-based and self-paced VP tutorials targeted at students of a course in machine and mechanism design. These undergraduate seniors are permitted to: (1) interactively explore the process of creating engineering analysis models in integrated VP environment; (2) develop skills for interactive SBD of models; and (3) develop their engineering judgment by interactive exploration of a spectrum of examples. The outcome of a phased introduction of these exercises and our experience based on the first successful course offering are also discussed.