Design & SimulationApril 4, 2023

My Simulation Story: Stefan Hauptmann, MesH Engineering

In this new blog series, we hear directly from individual SIMULIA Champions about their own personal simulation story. The first post in the series is from Stefan Hauptmann of MesH Engineering, where he talks about how his childhood on a farm influenced his later decision to pursue a career in engineering, the importance of his life’s work in wind turbines, and why being a SIMULIA Champion is so important to the future of simulation.
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Avatar Katie Corey

In this new blog series, we hear directly from individual SIMULIA Champions about their own personal simulation story. The first post in the series is from Stefan Hauptmann of MesH Engineering, where he talks about how his childhood on a farm influenced his later decision to pursue a career in engineering, the importance of his life’s work in wind turbines, and why being a SIMULIA Champion is so important to the future of simulation.

Watch the replay of Stefan’s presentation at the Wind and Drivetrain Conference and the 2022 SIMULIA RUM. Also, don’t forget you can connect with all SIMULIA Champions in the SIMULIA Community!

From Farm Boy to Engineer

Many ask me, “How does a farm boy like yourself grow up to become an engineer?” At first glance, farming and engineering do not seem to have much in common, but I can tell you how they connect for me. I grew up on a small farm enjoying farm work with my family. It was not until I began school, where I had teachers that exposed me to different intellectual pursuits, that I became more interested in engineering and how things worked. Many of my teachers hoped I would go into the humanities, something like social studies, but I loved being hands-on with projects. Therefore, pursuing engineering was a rebellious act solidified by my upbringing on my family farm. I learned so much from those early childhood years about the importance of thinking about how things worked and being willing to try new methods to achieve better results.

MesH Engineering and the Importance of Wind Turbines

Upon completion of my studies in aerospace engineering in Stuttgart, I became very interested in wind turbine technology. I started working at the Chair for Wind Energy at the University of Stuttgart (SWE). Wind turbines are important as a renewable energy source, especially as the world tries to move away from its dependence on fossil fuels. For a long time, it was the cheapest way to produce renewable energy. I like to keep things simple and wind energy is a nice approach to making use of renewable energies without needing very complex technology – but then I learned that the efficient usage of wind energy also requires state-of-the-art technology, of course.

During my time at the University Chair SWE, the directors from MesH Engineering approached me about their work in the automotive industry and said they were interested in doing the same for wind turbines. This was an interesting challenge for me that connected what I was doing at the university to the industry. This is how I ended up working for MesH Engineering, which is still my current job.

SIMULIA Champion

June 6, 2006, was one of the happiest days of my life because I handed in my diploma thesis that day. The topic I chose for my thesis was partly about coupling aerodynamics tools to multibody systems, which I started doing with Simpack. When I began my research, some colleagues from Simpack were already working on similar projects within the field of wind turbines, but it was still in its infancy. I remember a problem we encountered when the wind turbine manufacturers bought gearboxes and put them on the turbines that they were manufacturing. However, they experienced resonance issues, surprising to everyone, including the gearbox and wind turbine manufacturers. We solved these issues with a multibody approach using Simpack, identifying the issues early in the design phase and overcoming these problems. A huge success, thanks in part to SIMULIA software.

Although I have worked with SIMULIA technology for a while, I was humbled when nominated as a SIMULIA Champion. In typical German fashion, I thought of all the wonderful engineers I worked with over the years and was skeptical about seeing myself as a “Champion.” Nevertheless, I thought, okay, I have been working for a long time with Simpack, I am used to the software, and I said to myself, why not. I am an expert in this software and I can teach others and show them how to make the best use of it. I hope to see these fellow engineers as future SIMULIA Champions quite soon. I am not the only one, as there is a growing SIMULIA and Simpack community. Many other engineers have the passion and skills to carry us forward into the future.

As a Champion now, I would like to see the most advanced engineers out in the community stand up and help others gain the experience and knowledge they already have. For me, this is the best part of the Champions program.

I Love Simulation Because…

It allows us to understand products before we have them physically available. We can learn a lot about a product before we actually see it. It is so exciting to be a part of this community of people who think about products that do not yet exist and how to improve them. This is quite amazing to me.


SIMULIA offers an advanced simulation product portfolio, including AbaqusIsightfe-safeToscaSimpoe-MoldSIMPACKCST Studio SuiteXFlowPowerFLOW and more. The SIMULIA Community is the place to find the latest resources for SIMULIA software and to collaborate with other users. The key that unlocks the door of innovative thinking and knowledge building, the SIMULIA Community provides you with the tools you need to expand your knowledge, whenever and wherever.

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