u/Automatic_Fix_967

Hi guys,

I'm a raising sophomore now, so I need to think seriously about what I should do in the future. I'm pretty sure I will work in an automotive, especially with chassis and loads control.

What I want to do in my job:
- Using software like Adams/ MATLAB Simulink and many vehicle dynamics, controls software to simulate the whole vehicle behavior and interact with the road. This can help to get the transient forces and loads to make sure the design will not fail under certain situations.
- Get those data, running FEA for both static and dynamic performance, regarding to bending, torsional, lateral and longitudinal then compare it with yield strength to get the safety factor.
- Using sensor like accelerometer, strain gauge to correlate test and simulate. Then based on that can to study for its structure reliability.

I have known there are several roles focus on these skills like: Loads engineer/ Durability engineer/ Loads and controls engineer. What do you think should fit me better? And which one will have more intern/ entry level opportunities todays? Also, I really appreciate if anyone in these role can share your overall workflow and the interaction with others.

Hi guys,

I'm a raising sophomore now, so I need to think seriously about what I should do in the future. I'm pretty sure I will work in an automotive, especially with chassis and loads control.

What I want to do in my job:
- Using software like Adams/ MATLAB Simulink and many vehicle dynamics, controls software to simulate the whole vehicle behavior and interact with the road. This can help to get the transient forces and loads to make sure the design will not fail under certain situations.
- Get those data, running FEA for both static and dynamic performance, regarding to bending, torsional, lateral and longitudinal then compare it with yield strength to get the safety factor.
- Using sensor like accelerometer, strain gauge to correlate test and simulate. Then based on that can to study for its structure reliability.

I have known there are several roles focus on these skills like: Loads engineer/ Durability engineer/ Loads and controls engineer. What do you think should fit me better? And which one will have more intern/ entry level opportunities todays? Also, I really appreciate if anyone in these role can share your overall workflow and the interaction with others.

Hi guys,

I'm a raising sophomore now, so I need to think seriously about what I should do in the future. I'm pretty sure I will work in an automotive, especially with chassis and loads control.

What I want to do in my job:
- Using software like Adams/ MATLAB Simulink and many vehicle dynamics, controls software to simulate the whole vehicle behavior and interact with the road. This can help to get the transient forces and loads to make sure the design will not fail under certain situations.
- Get those data, running FEA for both static and dynamic performance, regarding to bending, torsional, lateral and longitudinal then compare it with yield strength to get the safety factor.
- Using sensor like accelerometer, strain gauge to correlate test and simulate. Then based on that can to study for its structure reliability.

I have known there are several roles focus on these skills like: Loads engineer/ Durability engineer/ Loads and controls engineer. What do you think should fit me better? And which one will have more intern/ entry level opportunities todays? Also, I really appreciate if anyone in these role can share your overall workflow and the interaction with others.

Hi guys,

I'm a raising sophomore now, so I need to think seriously about what I should do in the future. I'm pretty sure I will work in an automotive, especially with chassis and loads control.

What I want to do in my job:
- Using software like Adams/ MATLAB Simulink and many vehicle dynamics, controls software to simulate the whole vehicle behavior and interact with the road. This can help to get the transient forces and loads to make sure the design will not fail under certain situations.
- Get those data, running FEA for both static and dynamic performance, regarding to bending, torsional, lateral and longitudinal then compare it with yield strength to get the safety factor.
- Using sensor like accelerometer, strain gauge to correlate test and simulate. Then based on that can to study for its structure reliability.

I have known there are several roles focus on these skills like: Loads engineer/ Durability engineer/ Loads and controls engineer. What do you think should fit me better? And which one will have more intern/ entry level opportunities todays? Also, I really appreciate if anyone in these role can share your overall workflow and the interaction with others.

Hi everyone, I'm a freshman now, and I'm about to ask for a Research Assistant position at my university. My interest and future goal are to become a CAE engineer for chassis in the automotive field. I am very motivated to learn and simulate a lot of FEA and run real tests to validate my assumptions. I want to know both the static and dynamic simulations of the car to make sure it can withstand extreme conditions.

I know it is really hard to find a lab that can strike a balance between real simulation and materials. And most of the current labs are about building and optimizing new designs of materials. After narrowing down, I have chosen 2 labs that I think should be suitable for me:

- Terramechanics, Multibody, and Vehicle Systems Lab: This one is about building many testing models that can help to better study the terrain. They will mainly focus on the road surface, tire modeling, and the current publication is about pavement deflection. They introduced a new method for this measurement to make the collected data more reliable and to be used at the industry level. However, I didn't see many FEA here, but it is processing data and a little bit of machine learning instead. Also, topics like terramechanics are a bit out of my range, which I am not really interested in, and not relevant to the chassis of the car. I know they still study multibody and vehicle systems, but the last 5 publications are about terramechanics. And there is a PHD candidate who has many experiences in the automotive field, he knows many software and simulation methods that I can learn a lot from him.

- Material Lab: This one is more about the materials and optimization for new designs and their structure. They will use many methods and high-level math to analyse and use additive manufacturing to make and then test their assumptions. This lab mainly focuses on the academic side, not on a big picture and a real model like the first one. However, it contains a significant amount of FEA, they also includes non-linear FEA. This can teach me much knowledge and help me learn how a particular material behaves under load. Here, I can be exposed to many Machine learning and processing data. The networking here is also good. I know a guy who is an Undergraduate Researcher here. He is currently an intern at Tesla, whom I think I can contact and help me a lot to get my first internship. So this makes it different. Having said so, due to it, I think they lack my interest in the side of static and dynamic simulation.

What do you think I should choose?

I have heard so many people say that they can go into a CAE role in this field without doing any research in their undergraduate studies. However, I consider pursuing a master's seriously and a position in research while still an undergraduate can help me a lot on the master's thesis road. So, really appreciate it if you can give me some advice in this situation.

Thank you so much!!!

Hi everyone, I'm a freshman now, and I'm about to ask for a Research Assistant position at my university. My interest and future goal are to become a CAE engineer for chassis in the automotive field. I am very motivated to learn and simulate a lot of FEA and run real tests to validate my assumptions. I want to know both the static and dynamic simulations of the car to make sure it can withstand extreme conditions.

I know it is really hard to find a lab that can strike a balance between real simulation and materials. And most of the current labs are about building and optimizing new designs of materials. After narrowing down, I have chosen 2 labs that I think should be suitable for me:

- Terramechanics, Multibody, and Vehicle Systems Lab: This one is about building many testing models that can help to better study the terrain. They will mainly focus on the road surface, tire modeling, and the current publication is about pavement deflection. They introduced a new method for this measurement to make the collected data more reliable and to be used at the industry level. However, I didn't see many FEA here, but it is processing data and a little bit of machine learning instead. Also, topics like terramechanics are a bit out of my range, which I am not really interested in, and not relevant to the chassis of the car. I know they still study multibody and vehicle systems, but the last 5 publications are about terramechanics. And there is a PHD candidate who has many experiences in the automotive field, he knows many software and simulation methods that I can learn a lot from him.

- Material Lab: This one is more about the materials and optimization for new designs and their structure. They will use many methods and high-level math to analyse and use additive manufacturing to make and then test their assumptions. This lab mainly focuses on the academic side, not on a big picture and a real model like the first one. However, it contains a significant amount of FEA, they also includes non-linear FEA. This can teach me much knowledge and help me learn how a particular material behaves under load. Here, I can be exposed to many Machine learning and processing data. The networking here is also good. I know a guy who is an Undergraduate Researcher here. He is currently an intern at Tesla, whom I think I can contact and help me a lot to get my first internship. So this makes it different. Having said so, due to it, I think they lack my interest in the side of static and dynamic simulation.

What do you think I should choose?

I have heard so many people say that they can go into a CAE role in this field without doing any research in their undergraduate studies. However, I consider pursuing a master's seriously and a position in research while still an undergraduate can help me a lot on the master's thesis road. So, really appreciate it if you can give me some advice in this situation.

Thank you so much!!!

Hi everyone, I'm a bit confused about whether joining a lab during my undergraduate studies can help me in a CAE career. I have known that so many people outside didn't join any research can do a good job in a CAE job. Currently, I'm a freshman with an interest in FEA for chassis in the automotive field. I did a lot of research on finding a suitable lab that strikes a balance between simulation and materials. However, so far, there are not many of them at my school (Virginia Tech). So, should I join a lab that focuses only on materials? Although I think it can help me to be better at the theory of the materials' behaviour, not much CAE software I can learn from. Do the employers take the research experience seriously for this position?

Also, I want to get a master's degree in the future. Could you explain how this early research can help me? Moreover, is there any way that I can be an RA without doing research in my undergraduate studies?

Thank you so much.