If you are interested in the field of applied mechanics, materials science and engineering, MDSolids is what you are looking for.
It is a great program that allows you to understand the relationship between the mechanical behavior of materials and their structures. It contains documentation, examples of problems and animated learning tools about normal stress, direct shear stress, bearing stress, factors of safety, normal strain, axial deformation and material properties. Every item shows graphically the problem and its solution, including an introduction about the problem, the problem solving considerations, and the variables required for solving it. The best thing is that you can check how the result changes every time the variables values are modified. The documentation modules included are: stress, strain, beam, truss, torsion, flexure, column buckling, pressure vessel, and more. Finally, the animated learning tools show you step by step how to develop those kinds of problems. OS supported: Windows XP and Vista. The price described is for the Student version; check the buy URL for more details.
It has all the basics a student may need with a veriety of modules from determining section properties to basic beam and column design and even truss member stress analysis. I assume reviews with low ratings are from the ones who keep staring at it and don't know what it is, how to input information and what to do with it.
I've used MD Solids for almost 20 years to teach Statics and Strength of Material. It's intuitive to learn and easy to use. Students pick it up right away. Now I have them load it to their own laptops, and assign work to be completed using MD Solids.
Our IT department will not allow unsupported software due to our insurance carrier. IS MDSolids "Supported"? Please respond.