BENCHMARK April 2024

2024 NAFEMS Regional Conferences

In this Issue:
(click on the titles to download the individual articles)

• AI Search for Engineering Simulation
• It's Still Rocket Science: The Business of Simulation
• ASSESS Summit 2024 - A Summary, Some Takeaways, and a Look to the Future
• The Simulation Stack
• Spearheading Gender Diversity in Simulation Engineering
• Multi-Physics Systems Simulation for Fusion
• Insights From a NAFEMS Technical Fellow
• Modeling Structural Failure

BENCHED

View From Your Editorial Team

This is my favourite time of year. No, not because of the weather – spring in Scotland has so far been as damp and grey as winter was – but because conference season is nearly upon us. Well, NAFEMS conference season anyway. There’s a big chance that you’re reading this sitting in a conference hall waiting for the NAFEMS Regional Conference you’re attending to kick off. If you are –welcome! It’s great to see you, and we hope you have a great time. But, if you’re reading this before your local conference, and you haven’t registered yet, then you need to stop reading, go to nafems.org/nrc24, and register.

Go, I’ll wait.

Seriously though, the 2024 run of the NAFEMS Regional Conference (NRC) series is significant in several ways. Not only are we already expecting a larger turnout in our existing regions, but we’re also reaching out to even more regions in the process. As well as the longstanding conferences in the UK, USA, Germany, Sweden and France, this time we’re joined by Poland, Italy, and Spain. Quite the party, and one we hope you’ll join us in.

We’ve already seen from the presentations that have been submitted for the conferences so far that Artificial Intelligence is the topic at the forefront of the collective mind of the community. It’s also something that’s right at the top of our thoughts here at NAFEMS (ahem - check out nafems.org/aiolas if you haven’t already, and our article on its implementation on page 30. But while this is most certainly the direction of travel for technology and life in general, I want to hold up an unfashionable “slow down” sign in the middle of the entire conversation. Not because I don’t think we should be talking about it –that would be a huge misjudgement. Just a reminder that AI is a tool, and a developing one at that. We’ve spent 40 years at NAFEMS reminding people that simulation isn’t a “black-box”, and that knowing the theory behind at least part of what you’re doing is vitally important to ensure reliable results. I think part of our role going forward will be to offer similar guidance to everyone using AI in modelling and simulation – use the tools as much as possible, and use them to your advantage, but remember they are tools and you really should still know what you are doing and what’s going on in the background. AI won’t replace creativity and the human mind – but what it should do is help with accuracy and efficiency, and free engineers, designers, marketers, and everyone else up to do the essential work of creative thinking instead of wasting time on mind-numbing busywork.

So, while there will be a massive focus on AI at the NRC programme and beyond, we’ve made sure that we’re still covering the actual nuts and bolts of what we’re all working on. That will be the same at our freshly announced 2025 NAFEMS World Congress, which will take place next May in Salzburg, Austria. More details on that will be available soon, as well as a guide on how to get involved.

Make the most of the conference if you’re there, register for one if you’re not, and enjoy this issue of benchmark.

David Quinn - Editor

If you have feedback or would like to see your article featured in benchmark contact benchmark@nafems.org