The 12th NAFEMS World Congress took place in June on the island of Crete, Greece. Three days of presentations, workshops, discussion sessions and networking activities were enjoyed by over 200 attendees, demonstrating that despite the current troubled economic climate, the NAFEMS World Congress remains as popular as ever.
Over 140 presentations were given over the three days, more than ever before, providing attendees with an unrivalled choice of technical content covering every aspect of engineering analysis and simulation. As well as an increased number of presentations, significantly, over the past several World Congresses, the improvement in the quality of the papers presented, and the complexity of the applications and problems that are being addressed, is tangible. Another notable aspect of the 2009 Congress was that presentations, and delegates, came from every part of the world, from as far apart as Australia, Brazil, China, India, Israel , Japan, Korea, Mexico and South Africa, as well as Europe and North America – no longer do we see certain countries “dominating” the proceedings – NAFEMS has indeed become a truly global organisation.
Over the course of the Congress, it became apparent that there was a high level of interest in specific topics, namely;
These areas generated a great deal of discussion and content, and subsequently NAFEMS will be examining each area to determine what role we should play in pushing the use of these technologies forward in the most effective way.
One of the major highlights of the Congress was the opportunity to hear the views of some of the leading minds in the software world in one location. After the first day of presentations, a panel session involving many of the CEO’s and CTO’s from the major software vendors was held. Their discussion focussed on how technology providers can continue to develop their tools to assist users in getting reliable results that they can have confidence in. A unique session of this kind is really only possible at a major independent event such as the NAFEMS World Congress, and we would like to thank all of the CEOs and CTOs who took part in this session.
As part of this, the NAFEMS Council took the opportunity to meet with these industry leaders to determine their opinions on what NAFEMS could do to help them more. Two things came out: of this - firstly, NAFEMS could continue to build on its library of existing benchmark problems, which most of them use routinely, and develop test cases that incorporate more complex physics, and secondly, that NAFEMS could work to develop a neutral platform for data exchange between different software packages. Both of these concepts will be investigated fully by NAFEMS in the very near future.
As mentioned previously, the quality of the papers presented in Crete was generally outstanding, making it a difficult task to choose the recipients for Best Paper. The Congress Review Committee decided to present the following awards, and our congratulations go to each recipient.
Ikjoong Lee, Hyundai Motor Company, Korea
“Analysis of Fluid-Structure Interaction Using Meshless Particle and Finite Element Methods: Biomechanics Applications”
Dietmar Vogt, EADS Innovation Works, Germany
“Simulation of Aircraft Cabin Interior Considering Uncertain Load Conditions”
Dragan Marinkovic, Technical University Berlin, Germany
“FE-Formulations for Real-Time Simulation of Large Deformations”
NAFEMS would like to thank each and every delegate, presenter, exhibitor and sponsor who participated in the World Congress, for helping to make the event a great success. The support of the Congress sponsors in particular is invaluable to ensure the success of the event, and our thanks go to Simulia, ANSYS, Siemens, Altair, Autodesk, BETA CAE Systems, CD-adapco, ESI, Fraunhofer SCAI, LMS and MSC.Software.
Finally, recognition is due to the NAFEMS team, whose tireless efforts both at the Congress, and in the months (and years!) leading up to the event, ensure its success: Roger Oswald, Heike Wankel, David Quinn, Jo Davenport, Paul Steward, Matthew Ladzinski, Elangovan Kariappan, Francois Costes, Alina Oswald, Lisa Wankel, Nicholas Pattakos, Sotirios Sarakinos, Maria Kazolea, Giuseppe Miccoli, Diane Duffett, Christine Bell, Sinothile Baloyi, Ludovina Moreira and Anna Cova.
David Quinn
Stay up to date with our technology updates, events, special offers, news, publications and training
If you want to find out more about NAFEMS and how membership can benefit your organisation, please click below.
Joining NAFEMS© NAFEMS Ltd 2025
Developed By Duo Web Design
