salome_meca is an open-source platform dedicated to mechanical simulation, providing a comprehensive software environment for the entire numerical simulation workflow: CAD, meshing, computation, post-processing, result visualization, and parametric studies. At its core, salome meca integrates code_aster, a solver developed by Electricité de France (EDF) R&D and released as open-source software under the GNU GPL since 2001.The solver provides a robust, quality-assured framework for both scientific research and industrial engineering, offering stable and powerful simulation capabilities for expert-level studies. It also serves as a platform for the integration and consolidation of advanced mechanical models from EDF R&D, namely for material aging, structural analysis, but also for nuclear-specific challenges. All its resources —source code, test cases, and documentation— are freely accessible. Recent developments have focused on high-performance computing (HPC), enabling the simulation of large-scale structures with hundreds of millions of degrees of freedom (DoF). Key advancements include mesh partitioning and the use of “ghost” elements at interfaces, optimizing memory usage for computationally intensive models. Additionally, the platform has advanced its contact-friction simulation capabilities, a major source of nonlinearity in industrial problems. A new mortar-type ray-tracing model has been developed to improve accuracy and efficiency in resolving these highly-nonlinear phenomena.