ENGINEERING ANALYSIS AND SIMULATION:  2010 Virtual Conference:  WHAT IS IT?

The NAFEMS 2010 Virtual Conference, organized and hosted by NAFEMS North America, but accessible globally on the Internet, has been a successful experiment by NAFEMS in delivering highly valuable simulation-relevant information via a more accessible vehicle at a fraction of the cost of attending a traditional "real" conference/tradeshow at a physical venue (no travel and accommodation costs). 

In addition, if you missed any of the live presentations during the two-day event, you can access the full (audio + slides) recordings of all of them until February 15, 2011 (included in the event registration).Also, all sponsor booths (and their downloadable content) are available until February 15, 2011.

AGENDA: Download here: draft-agenda_v10-corrected_.pdf:
How to Register for NAFEMS 2010 Virtual Conference

The ENGINEERING SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS  Issues

Where is engineering analysis and simulation going? Where should it be going, and how will we all help get it there? What are the business, technological, and human enablers that will carry the past successful developments, applications, and business impact of Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) to higher plateaus during the next decade and beyond?

The Event

In today's world, corporations and employees are re-engineering themselves to keep up with an ever changing economic and market environment. In order to meet these needs and provide additional educational opportunities to the engineering analysis and simulation community, NAFEMS North America successfully hosted the NAFEMS 2010 Virtual Conference on November 15-16, 2010, with over 900 registrants.

The NAFEMS 2010 Virtual Conference was the first independent virtual conference in the engineering analysis and simulation community. There is still an opportunity for you to attend the archived conference and view audio/slide content from leading global experts.

NAFEMS, the premier global organization dedicated to the advancement and improvement of engineering simulation,has brought together the worldwide leading visionaries, developers, and practitioners of CAE-related technologies and business processes to share relevant trends and roadmaps, to explore common themes, and to address these issues in an open forum. The goal  to provide attendees with the best “food for thought and action” to deploy CAE over the next several years was achieved and you can still access it online until February 15, 2011..

Opening  Session: SIMULATION-BASED ENGINEERING: Where Do We Go From Here?

This Plenary Session featured the Opening Keynote:

SIMULATION-BASED ENGINEERING: Where Do We Go From Here?

by Prof. J. Tinsley Oden, Associate Vice President of Research, University of Texas at Austin

is free to everyone.

Special Focus Sessions

A major highlight of the Virtual Conference was the clustering of many of the presentations into Focus Sessions. If you only wish to attend one of these focus sessions, as opposed to having access to the entire conference during and after the event, you can register for to watch the archived versions of these sessions individually below.

The Topics

A vision of CAE’s potential in 2020 has many facets associated with maximizing the value of using engineering analysis and simulation in addressing the ever-increasingly complexity of products and their life cycles. The NAFEMS NA 2010 Virtual Conference has included keynote speakers, exhibits, and breakout sessions exploring the following subjects:

• Business developments to increase the financial impact of CAE investments
• • Development and deployment of CAE roadmaps
  • Management and executive awareness and understanding to make CAE deployment decisions with enduring positive impact
  • Integration of SDM with PLM 
  • Broadening the scope of industries and applications that benefit from advanced engineering analysis and simulation
  • The roles of CAE software and hardware developers

• Technical developments to improve speed, accuracy, reliability, accessibility, and applicability of results (“the purpose of computing is insight, not numbers .”) 
• • High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems for CAE (further synergies between hardware architectures and software algorithms)
  • Capturing the relevant physics to gain engineering insight through multifunctional and multiphysics simulation
  • Material characterization including multiscale material models and data management; understanding and coping with model limitations, etc.
  • The impact of nanotechnologies on CAE requirements such as multifunctional “designer” nano-materials
  • Timely insight from flourishing data: visualization, animation, and immersive virtual reality (“Moore’s Law doesn’t apply to the human brain ”)
  • Driving design improvement and optimization from smart simulations
  • Real-Time virtual simulations
  • Design uncertainty quantifications and non-deterministic optimization
  • Innovative approximation methods and evolutionary optimization

• Human issues
• • Intelligent engineering collaboration environments
  • Teaching simulation as part of the basic engineering curricula 
  • Evolving engineering processes and organizations to leverage CAE advances 
  • Certification of engineers to help ensure safe and effective use of CAE 
  • Training and education aligned with a 2020 vision

Who Should Explore the Archive?

The conference archive is of interest to all analysts, engineers, team leaders and managers that have a responsibility for ensuring that a fit-for-purpose engineering solution is obtained from the use of modern simulation software. Those involved with the manufacturing and design process at any level will benefit from exploring and watching the archived sessions.

The archive is open to both members and non-members of NAFEMS.