Of course there are alternatives to AutoCAD, if that is what you mean. I, for example, use DraftSight. It’s amazing combining ease of use and design power. For simple things, there’s the free “LibreCAD” which is also great for this role. Then there’s the powerful nanoCAD which is also free, and the BricsCAD but these have a steep learning curve (not that you shouldn’t even try them out). Finally, there’s Microstation PowerDraft and Solidworks, both of which are expensive and capable of a lot more than what AutoCAD is. Of course, these are only a couple of examples. There are TONS of more CAD tools available out there.
I would say the question is about "non CAD" (Computer aided design) software. Yes, there is a lot of software for FEA, CFD analysis such as Ansys, COMSOL, HyperMesh. Also, MATLAB is considered very useful software for mechanical engineers. For material selection there is CES Selector. For project managers there is Microsoft Project, Oracle Primavera and many more As a mechanical engineer, you can't avoid Microsoft office tools
Well matlab is very widely used for calculations that are repetitive and also to simulate something. For finite element analysis mechanical engineers use ANSYS and NASTRAN PATRAN, there are others like revit or even solidworks I think. For fluid mechanics or Computational fluid dynamics mechanical engineers use fluent or they even code it themselves on C matlab or fortran. More importantly mechanical engineers also use revit to design some parts but it depends on what part are we talking about. If the part is not very mechanical and more artistic, revit is an amazing tool for that. I cant use it very well but I see some of my collegues use it to design parts like airplane landing gear struts. It’s a very powerful tool
There are many software solutions with advanced features that will allow you to work on really technical projects. Here is our selection of the best software to work with for your next mechanical engineering projects. Find out all the modeling and design tools that you need. http://www.offshoreoutsourcing-india.com/ 1)Fusion 360 2)KeyCreator 3)Inventor 4)Solid Edge 5)Alibre 6)DesignSpark Mechanical
