DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/cae.22112

Summary
The software to simulate the mechanical loads on the silo structures was presented in this article. The authors provide the description of the Guide Silo Design (GSD), including the system architecture and examples of practical cases. The software uses ANSYS, and SAP2000 finite element environments with the user interface in Matlab. It is demonstrated in the practical example, how the students can use different approaches to solve the same problem and analyze the obtained temporal and spatial results, graphical representation of stress field, etc. The authors describe the integration of the GSD into the educational process and how it can help students to understand the main logic steps involved in the structural analysis, mathematical and physical concepts, structural behavior prediction. The authors state that the proposed simulation environment significantly enhances active learning experience, enabled lecturers to explain theoretical concepts, and prepared students for solving real-life problems.

Relevance for Complex Systems Knowledge
The authors of this article state that typical teaching strategies in the field of engineering are based on problem-oriented cases. As structural engineering courses have high failure rates, authors suggest changing conventional passive learning method to student-centered active learning method. They present a tool which enables to numerically simulate the mechanical process of silo structures in the interactive virtual environment. Other problems, such as calculation of prestressed cable forces in bridge structure and simulation of nonlinear shear in steel-concrete slabs can also help to learn other phenomena of structural engineering. During the simulation process, students have to define geometry, material properties, loads. This helps to gain complex knowledge in the fields of the mechanics, material science and mathematics. The presented tool provides analytical and numerical solution. Students develop their analytical skills by comparing the solutions obtained using different methods, by defining various loads and material properties and comparing the obtained results, analyzing spatial and temporal results, assessing the suitability of possible engineering solutions. This tool also helps teachers to explain theoretical concepts and practical applications. The authors note that students who were able to use this tool admitted that the learning process enhanced the learning of engineering concepts, helped to better visualize the physical phenomena and was intellectually stimulating and challenging.

Point of Strength
The strength of this article is that it presents an active learning approach to model a complex mechanical problem in the interactive simulation environment.