CAE expert jargon
ARC-length method, Cauchy stress tensor, co-simulation, Gaussian point, Lagrange multiplier, PSD analysis, Rayleigh damping, SLM, SMA, DDS, DEM, DOF. All terms from computer aided engineering, CAE for short. Do you know any of these terms? No? No problem!
A saying by Pete Seeger goes, "Any dumbass can make something complicated. It takes genius to make something simple".
Especially in academic and engineering circles, it is widespread to express oneself in such a complicated way that a layman only understands "Chinese", i.e. almost nothing. A statement peppered with technical terms immediately sounds professional and is not doubted, but it often merely serves as a facade for the so-called experts to hide their uncertainty and directly ward off deeper questions.
People seem to have a hard time admitting that they don't know something or know something vaguely. I, on the other hand, find it pleasant to talk to people who don't know something or know it only vaguely and can admit that.
I, too, have many areas where I am stumped. For example, if I claimed to understand all differential equations related to finite element calculations, I would be lying. To be honest I often don't even care, after all I don't have to write new CAE software code, I am a CAE user. When it comes to solving a practical issue using an analytical computational approach, I am very good. I need this to be able to estimate the results that my calculation engineers produce. My demand on myself and my employees is to be able to present complex relationships in a simple way. Does that make us geniuses? Probably not - with a few exceptions. 🙂
Simple language helps us communicate better with our customers. Sometimes we ask them questions even though they are embarrassing. But I'd rather ask an embarrassing question than spend four weeks calculating without really understanding my customer's machine and end up finding out that I started from completely the wrong premises and so the result is unusable.
Nevertheless, if you want to know what exactly CAE terms mean, look them up at www.ca e-wiki.info/wikiplus/index.php. This is a site I can recommend. Even for people not familiar with the subject, the explanations here are understandable.
And if you don't feel like it? Leave it to us. We speak your language, also in the field of CAE.
Your Stefan Merkle
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