Python For Mechanical Engineers

How can Python (programming language) be used for mechanical engineers? Python is designed to be a simple, concise, and intuitive programming language. That is why many designers and researchers use Python for logical and numerical applications. Perhaps they want to get directly to the point quickly, for example, understanding the influence or relationship of a variable with a yield, instead of going through many hours studying the complexities of an "uncertain" programming language. Python can enable a faster and more streamlined workflow, simulate massive amounts of data, and, most importantly, automate monotonous and time-consuming activities so that they may be completed in a matter of seconds.

What exactly can you do with Python as a mechanical engineer?

Running numerical analysis is one of the most beneficial things you can do with the help of python. With Python's numerous packages, such as NumPy and SciPy, you may utilize built-in methods to conduct numerical analyses quicker and more easily than ever before. SciPy allows you to integrate, display, and even sparse without ever performing a manual computation. This saves a significant amount of time. Some of the most popular Python packages are shown here:

Thermodynamics Numerical Analysis

Python can also be used by mechanical engineers for thermodynamics numerical analysis. A basic finite element analysis is another demonstration of what you can perform. We can quickly compute “most common thermodynamic characteristics from pressure and temperature, such as density, enthalpy, entropy, internal energy, molecular weight, specific heats, specific heat ratio, and specific volume” with the PYro tool.

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Python programming is also a good fit for computational fluid dynamics. PyCFD is used to create and handle partial differential equations, compute fluid volumes using Navier-Stokes formulas, and solve boundary value partial differential equations using the boundary element approach. Overall, this has three major advantages for mechanical engineers in their workplaces. To begin, bear in mind that your scripts, like your colleague's code, can be used by the rest of the organization once you've created them. This saves everyone time and helps you to operate as a team more efficiently.

Secondly, we can increase automation even more by using a platform like Onshape to script specialized features. Effectively, this allows us to create special features for our applications fast and efficiently. Custom beams, airfoils, spur gears, ray tracers, and wiring are among them.

Finally, Python allows mechanical engineers to automate complex calculations that would otherwise be too cumbersome or time-consuming to perform manually. The language excels in floating-point math, with up to Seventeen significant figures possible. Python is the foundation for mathematically complex machine learning (ML) frameworks like PyTorch, so it's no surprise.

Advantages Of Python In Mechanical Engineering

Many mechanical engineers are unaware of this. If you give Python and Jupyter Lab a good try, you'll immediately see that you can accomplish things faster and that it's easy to dig deeper into the computations. It will assist you in locating a solution to your problem in the realm of unconventional manufacturing, design, and more. An examination of the results of a user survey on several product designs. It was seen that using python one can produce a graph per design in two lines of code instead of one hour in Excel. There are some results carried out of tests that were then analyzed. By setting a value for each parameter on one axis, a series of graphs comparing the different technologies evaluated was created in less than 10 lines with the help of python. Something that necessitates additional Excel data processing. By modifying one line of code, one can subsequently utilize the same program to calculate many more test results. It would be required to perform a lot of manual work if one uses Excel. 

For determining component tolerances, we use a complex table. For some tolerances, you must reduce the index by a depth that is dependent on numerous part design factors. Without Visual Basic for Application (VBA), getting the value of the varied tolerances according to the kind of measurement is impossible in Excel. Python is also quicker to write than VBA. Numerical analysis is the most popular Python application. When linear equations and ODE/PDE are involved, solving issues analytically would take a lengthy time. This makes solving numerical analysis problems twice as complex in mechanical engineering because boundary conditions are common. Take the case of a liquid flowing through a conduit. For beginners, it would be difficult to solve the problem and acquire accurate figures and graphs showing disparities. With programming languages, you may solve such issues in a matter of seconds and obtain graphical simulations at the same time as a result.

MATLAB vs Python for Mechanical Engineers

We may also see the difference between MATLAB and Python. Even though both languages are interpreted, they differ in both technical and conceptual aspects. Python is far more versatile than MATLAB in terms of functionality, and the support community for it is a lot more active than MATLAB’s. Simulink, MATLAB’s simulation, and model-based design tool is the exception. This is mostly due to their diverse methods of development, which are as follows: MATLAB is a licensed, closed-source program, whereas Python is an open-source project that has hundreds of contributors contributing to its success. This comes down to a couple of important Python advantages. We can accomplish more with fewer thanks to Python's flexibility. As a result, procedures are simplified, and less human input is required. Everyone knows what happens when there are too many spreadsheets in a firm, right? As a result of Python programming, we can consolidate much of this labor into a single unified platform.

All Mechanical Engineers Shall Learn Python

Computer programming may not be our focus as mechanical engineers, but in today’s digital world these skills are crucial. Learning a user-friendly language like Python can pay huge dividends. Since this language comes pre-equipped with all the scientific and mathematical tools we need, it’s easy to expand Python scripting into many use cases as your command over it grows. There’s a good reason we’ve seen such a meteoric rise in Python’s popularity. It’s one of three official languages at Google. It’s the basis for major services like DropBox and Netflix. Just like these web services, our mechanical designs benefit from Python expertise.