Mechanical Computer Aided Engineering (MCAE) software is used to analyze and simulate mechanical parts, assemblies, and products. Early MCAE systems were limited by the technical complexity of software and the computer capacity required, so they focused on one type of analysis (such as stress, kinematics, vibration, failure, thermal, fluid etc.).
They imposed part complexity limits, however, these limitations are being removed, and as more products combine mechanical parts with electronic and software controls and network connectivity, there is increasing integration of MCAE with other types of analysis and simulation.