Blog

The NAFEMS blog features industry news, a raft of technical topics, thought leadership, and all the latest from the analysis community.

You can subscribe to weekly updates here. If you have any feedback or suggestions, or you want to contribute, please contact us at marketing@nafems.org

Exploding Dough And Fun With Carrots

by Tony Abbey, FE Training Welcome to my first blog for NAFEMS and an unusual title. It has been a very busy two weeks travelling and teaching the NAFEMS “Introduction to FEA” class in the UK and Holland. As usual each class was very different - depending on the background of the client company and the individuals attending. Both classes were fun, I always enjoy meeting fellow engineers and

22 February 2013

Stick Forward, Full Opposite Rudder

by Tony Abbey, FE Training As you may have guessed from the title, this week’s blog has an aviation theme. Many years ago I used to be a flying instructor and I spent most weekends, when the weather was good, teaching people to fly. I was reminded of all this a few days ago when browsing through an aviation magazine. The instructing scene has changed dramatically since I flew, with many new

FE Training

07 March 2013

FEA for Managers & Reviewers - Q&A

by Tony Abbey, FE Training This week I presented a very short free webinar to a mainly US based audience on the topic ‘FEA for Managers and Reviewers’. This was a collaborative effort between NAFEMS and Desktop Engineering (DE). DE is a US based magazine focussing on CAD, CAM and CAE and I write a monthly article for them. The webinar was based on the March 2013 article of the same name.We had

FE Training

08 March 2013

Excuse me, how do I switch it on?

by Tony Abbey, FE Training One of the most enjoyable aspects of the training that I carry out is the travelling involved. I have been very fortunate to teach in many countries around the world and to visit many interesting places. Often this involves flying into an airport, picking up a rental car and then heading off to my hotel on the first night. One of the great blessings has been the

FE Training

19 March 2013

A Train of Thought

by Tony Abbey, FE Training Earlier this year I travelled from London to Glasgow for a meeting. That gave me the opportunity to ride on a railway train for the first time in Britain since the era of British Rail. My memories are of a system that was starved for funds with much neglect and decay. Returning by rail to my hometown on one trip was a shock. The elegant Victorian station had been

FE Training

12 April 2013

The “Usual Suspects”

by Tony Abbey, FE Training I have been living in the US now for 13 years and occasionally I get a little nostalgic for the TV shows I grew up with in the UK. I found a DVD catalogue which included what in the US we call Cop Shows. The English vernacular I remember is Police Dramas. I ordered some old favourites such as “The Sweeney”, “The Professionals” and even an extraordinarily dated “Dixon

FE Training

20 May 2013

Anecdotal Evidence

by Tony Abbey, FE Training My Uncle started as a River Pilot on the English Humber River; a treacherous place with strong currents and constantly changing sandbanks. He then served in the Merchant Navy and was torpedoed twice. Post war he captained a survey and salvage ship for the Royal Air Force. This included marking out and monitoring offshore target ranges. A grim task was salvaging

FE Training

29 May 2013

Clyde Cessna's Famous Photo

by Tony Abbey, FE Training Every Saturday when I am in town I work as a part time volunteer at Yank’s Air Museum in Chino, California. If you are in the area please come and check it out, it is rather special. If I am there don’t forget to say hello. One of the museum aircraft has always intrigued me because of the photo blow-up set on an easel next to it. The aircraft is a Cessna A model, the

FE Training

29 August 2013

Unwind With A Little Post-Crash Mozart

by Tony Abbey, FE Training I had the privilege of attending the NAFEMS World Congress in Salzburg in June. It was a busy time for myself and my e-learning colleague Kamran Fouladi as we gave a series of short classes to act as tasters for the full courses run throughout the year. It was very pleasant to meet NAFEMS members who had already attended the e-learning courses. Teaching the classes

FE Training

11 September 2013

Shot-Peening Over Coffee and Pie

by Tony Abbey, FE Training Firstly, I must make an apology for yet another aviation related blog intro. On Saturday I was offered, out of the blue, a ride in an open cockpit Stearman biplane from 1942. It has a 220 hp engine, but is quite a heavy plane at just over 2 tons fully loaded. It is also a tail dragger – a small wheel at the rear means it sits, taxies and lands in a nose up attitude.

FE Training

20 September 2013

Recent live NAFEMS on-site classes and other updates

by Tony Abbey, FE Training March was a hectic month - with three customized training classes in England and Scotland. First stop was Atkins Ground Engineering Group in Epsom, with a tailored Dynamics Analysis Course for some of the Geotechnical Engineering Staff.. Next up , Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) in Gaydon, where Tony taught the final Introduction to FEA for the 2014/15 intake. This is a

FE Training

01 May 2015

Simulation Driven Design: Just How Far Have We Come?

by Chad Jackson, President and Principal Analyst of Lifecycle Insights It's time for a litmus test, isn't it? We've been talking about this issue for well over a decade now. Simulation has traditionally been used for verification and validation right before testing begins. Its a great way to avoid the effort of building prototypes that, according to simulation predictions, will fail. There's

Simulation Data

16 October 2013

Boyhood

by The CAE Guy Usually, when a movie is trying to convey the passage of time, say by a flashback to a character’s childhood, a young actor is used that someone, perhaps the casting director, has determined bears some resemblance to the adult actor. “Boyhood” is the story of growing up as seen through the eyes of a child and breaks that mold by shooting over a 12 year period with the same cast.

CAE Guy

09 October 2014

The CFD interview

by The CAE Guy Now that I have a few months to further settle in to the aero-thermal department manager role, I have had the chance to think more about expanding the role of Computational Fluid Dynamics within the department and potentially within the rest of the company as well. Our department certainly has an overall CFD strategy, but how that CFD strategy relates to the testing strategy

CAE Guy

05 May 2015

From Wind Tunnels to High Performance Computing

by The CAE Guy Back in the 1930s, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was created by congressional charter in May 1933 as a federally owned corporation in the United States and ultimately declared constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1936 [1, 2].The TVA was, in part, established as a way to combat the seeming unfair business practices of for-profit power generation that that favored

CAE Guy

19 April 2016

Analysis Origins - ABAQUS

from the analysis origins series by Lynn Manning In the first of this new regular series on the roots of some of the major players in the analysis world, we take a look at the origins of HKS and ABAQUS, from its beginnings in the 1970’s, to the present day. An Englishman, a Swede and an American who grew up in Ecuador met in Providence, Rhode Island—sounds like a humorous opening line, but

Analysis Origins

30 April 2018

Wind tunnels winding test engineers up

by The CAE Guy I confess to be continually surprised at the lack of understanding of Computational Fluid Dynamics by some (repeat, some) test engineers and managers. Not that they are not good at their jobs, but it comes up often enough that I have had to issue and edict that background information must be included with CFD results reports. The test equivalent of this is to include the specs of

CAE Guy

11 January 2016

Hendrix, Van Halen, Newton and Einstein

by The CAE Guy Back in the 1980s, when I was 16 or 17, I was arguing/discussing the “best” rock and roll guitarist off all time with a high school classmate of mine. While I remember it was a heated “debate” where we agreed to disagree: Long story short [1], I was advocating for Eddie Van Halen and he was advocating for Jimi Hendrix. For a little background, my classmate was a guy that seemed,

CAE Guy

28 October 2015

I want (CAE) candy!

by The CAE Guy Springtime is in the air here in the Midwestern US, which means there is a transfer happening from indoor to outdoor activities. For me, that means the end of coaching volleyball to attempting to find time to ride my bicycle more (one of my New Year’s resolutions …), and playing pickup Ultimate[1]. Since I managed to not finish all (or, technically, any…) of the woodworking/home

CAE Guy

22 July 2015

Big Time Manager

by The CAE Guy This is now what our two teenage daughters call me occasionally.Mostly in the context of when they think I am trying to get away with something. Such as: Oh, Dad thinks that since he’s a Big Time Manager now, he can do what he wants and not follow the rules. For teenagers, this happens relatively often as their “lens” on the world is decidedly different that most everyone else’s

CAE Guy

06 February 2015

Hello NAFEMS Folks

by Chad Jackson, President and Principal Analyst of Lifecycle Insights Let me first say welcome the new NAFEMS blog. I'm excited that we'll now have a blog focused on simulation issues. I think many of us will get a lot of value from it. As you might have guessed, I'll be one of the contributors here. So I thought it would only be appropriate to give you some idea of what to expect from my

22 February 2013

Key to Championing Simulation

by Chad Jackson, President and Principal Analyst of Lifecycle Insights Quick poll: do you know the most requested presentation topic for NAFEMS events? Anyone. Think quick. I guess the title of this post might be giving it away, but when I talked with Michelle Ringrose about my presentation for NAFEMS North American Conference 2012, she was very clear: addressing the business side of simulation

Simulation Data

05 March 2013

Does Multiphysics Make Fools of Us All?

by Chad Jackson, President and Principal Analyst of Lifecycle Insights Quite a long time ago, I remember the first time I visited a hard-core simulation analyst's group. It was at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and I, fresh out of college, was showing them some new simulation technology. There were lots of questions and conversations that day. But first and foremost in my memory, I remember

multi-physics

12 March 2013

The Best Simulation Toolbox: Integrated Suite or Granular Apps

by Chad Jackson, President and Principal Analyst of Lifecycle Insight Everyone likes a good debate, right? Well, as a co-host for the web show Tech4PD , I have to admit that I am a little biased. The idea behind the web show is that Jim Brown, another Industry Analyst, and I debate various topics about technology that enables product development. Viewer's votes determine who wins. The loser has

Simulation Data

27 March 2013

The Four ROIs of Simulation

by Chad Jackson, President and Principal Analyst of Lifecycle Insights A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post titled The Key to Championing Simulation here on the NAFEMS blog that looked at the best way to move the simulation capabilities of an organization forward. The key, I said, was to befriend the bean counter. The idea is to get their help building out an ROI case that is credible and

Simulation Data

05 April 2013

Pre-CAD Simulation: Where True Engineering Occurs?

by Chad Jackson, President and Principal Analyst of Lifecycle Insights This last week, I attended the Council on the Future of Engineering Software (COFES) in Phoenix AZ. It's a great event that brings together many of the leaders of the industry from the ranks of software providers, journalists, industry analysts and manufacturers. We get together a debate a lot of edge topics relevant to the

Pre-CAD Simulation

19 April 2013

Systems Simulation: Far-off Future or Feasible Now?

by Chad Jackson, President and Principal Analyst of Lifecycle Insights Move over multi-physics. There's now a different field that qualifies as the bleeding edge of technology in simulation: system simulation. Many organizations are just starting to broach this field in an effort to better understand how systems perform holistically. But what is it? Is it really feasible for practical use today?

Systems Simulation

08 May 2013

The Implications of the Cloud for Simulation

by Chad Jackson, President and Principal Analyst of Lifecycle Insights Is the cloud that big a deal for simulation anymore? I mean, we basically know what it means. Run simulation sin the cloud. Leverage all that compute horsepower up there. Get lots of results way faster. Rinse. Wash. Repeat. Right? Well, that's where I disagree. Bigger changes for simulation in the cloud are hidden just below

Simulation Data

04 June 2013

Continuous Systems Validation- Implications for Software Solutions

by Chad Jackson, President and Principal Analyst of Lifecycle Insights Continuous systems validation brings a whole new level of complication to simulation. In my first post in this series, we looked at how designs progress in various engineering disciplines. In the second one, we looked at how cross-disciplinary simulations are actually assembled out of these different designs. But

Continuous Systems Validation

24 July 2013

Interview with Ralph Sundermeier

Dr Ralph Sundermeier works in the Technical Design Department of Volkswagen, where he is responsible for the interior calculation within car projects and mainly for the development of calculation methods. Dr Sundermeier was Keynote speaker at NAFEMS recent World Congress in Salzburg, Austria . His presentation entitled ' Frontloading by calculation - Evolution or Revolution? ' shared

Ralph Sundermeier

12 August 2013

Continuous Systems Validation- Progressive Design Representations

by Chad Jackson, President and Principal Analyst of Lifecycle Insights I now have no doubt left in my mind: system simulation is now all the rage. A few weeks ago, I hopped on the bandwagon to write on the topic. I published a post titled Systems Simulation: Far-off Future or Feasible Now? here at the NAFEMs blog. That post focused on how to build a simulation model that incorporates various

Continuous Systems Validation

05 July 2013

Growing Pains

by Kamran Fouladi, President of InfoMec Commercial marketplace for CAE software is undoubtedly similar to any other marketplace where competitors vie for increased market share. Add to this landscape, organizations and individuals who believe in open source environments and the landscape becomes even more competitive for CAE software companies. This paradigm certainly holds true for CFD software

CAE Software

26 April 2013

Analysis Origins - MSC and NASTRAN

from the analysis origins series by Dennis Nagy Principal, BeyondCAE Birth, Growth, Success, Stagnation, and Re-Birth MSC’s 55-year history has been fascinating, exciting, and disappointing, all at the same time. This article attempts to highlight all those facets from the personal viewpoint of someone who was a part of it for 12 years (1985-97) and has followed MSC’s course closely since

Analysis Origins

05 November 2018

They've Found it! Beagle 2 Lander Found on Mars after 12 Years

Well time makes fools of us all. It didn't return calls, we didn't see it around - it was as if it had disappeared off the face of the planet (well, it had technically...), but the UK led Beagle 2 lander, which touched down on Mars on Christmas Day 2003 and hadn't been seen or heard form since, has been found by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). boo! you found me! (images courtesy of

Beagle 2

16 January 2015

Analysis Origins - KFX and FLACS

Modelling Explosions and Combustion and the Impact of Piper Alpha from the analysis origins series Introduction by Steve Howell The catastrophic loss of the Piper Alpha platform claimed the lives of 167 people. On 6 July 1988, a small explosion caused secondary damage that resulted in a second larger explosion and then a sustained major fire. With a total insured loss of £1.7 billion (US$3.4

Analysis Origins

30 July 2018

Analysis Origins - Fluent

from the analysis origins series This article chronicles the origins of Fluent, a pioneering Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code in the 1980s that became the dominant market leader by the late 90s and is today part of ANSYS Inc., one of the leading simulation software providers for engineering. “CHAM showed the world that fluid dynamics problems could be solved on a computer. Fluent, on

Analysis Origins

10 May 2019

Focus on: Optimisation

Optimisation (or optimiZation, depending on where you're from..) is everywhere. If you're involved in a design, you're involved in the optimisation process. And if you think you're not, then you're probably mistaken... NAFEMS has long had a significant focus on optimisation in engineering analysis and simulation, producing books, papers, events and training courses on the subject. We've collated

Focus on

04 August 2017

Focus on: Manufacturing Simulation

Manufacturing Simulation covers a multitude of processes, materials, techniques, and methods. Almost every engineered object in use in industry or in our homes has undergone a transforming process taking it from a raw material to a finished product. These processes change the shape and, in many cases, the properties of the raw material in order to make the desired item. Successful processes are

Focus on

15 September 2017

Focus on: Structural Dynamics

As you would expect, NAFEMS has produced a significant number of papers, articles, presentations and much more on the subject of structural dynamics. We've collected some of the more interesting pieces together here in this email. Many of the resources below are available free for you to download, with others accessible exclusively to NAFEMS Members , e-library subscribers , or to buy directly

Focus on

25 November 2017

Focus on: Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is now used for a huge range of applications across all industrial areas. Its use can provide insight that is difficult, dangerous or impossible to obtain from other methods, yet the complexity of the physics of interest and numerical methods used can prevent or limit the ability to capture usefully realistic results. Over the past few years, NAFEMS has produced

Focus on

08 February 2018

Focus on: Simulation Data Management

The effective management of simulation data and process information is increasingly important as simulation becomes a core business practice and organizations rely on simulation results as the basis for business decisions. “Simulation Data Management (SDM)” is a technology which uses database solutions to enable users to manage structures of simulation and process data across the complete product

Focus on Simulation Data

04 May 2018

Focus on: Composites

NAFEMS has been engaged in activities related to the application of numerical methods to the analysis and assessment of composite materials for many years. We have produced a significant number of resources in the field, and we've collected some of these together here. Many of the resources below are available free for you to download, with others accessible exclusively to NAFEMS Members ,

Focus on

29 October 2018

Focus on: Joints & Connections

As most structures involve some sort of jointing or connection, often running into many thousands, or even millions of connections in one individual body, the analyses involved can be among the most difficult an engineer can face. As you can imagine, there has been a significant amount of activity within NAFEMS around these issues, and we've collected some of the resulting information here. Many

Focus on

07 December 2018

Analysis Origins - OptiStruct

The origins and legacy of the renowned structural analysis code and early pioneer of simulation-driven design. from the analysis origins series In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the engineering research community began to buzz about a new concept called topology optimization. The homogenization method for topology and shape optimization was first introduced by Martin Bendsoe and Noburo

Analysis Origins

31 October 2019

What Next for Diversity in Engineering Simulation?

According to Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE, Chair of the Diversity Leadership Group subgroup of the Royal Academy of Engineering: ‘creating inclusive cultures across engineering companies is critical in not only engaging, attracting and retaining engineers of all ages, but also as regards driving innovation and creativity’ [1] If you do not intentionally include, you unintentionally exclude.

Diversity

01 February 2021

Vasilios Halkias - Americas Student Award Winner

Americas Student Award In this series, we've asked some of the winners from the 2020 NAFEMS Student Awards to give us their thoughts on what winning the award means to them, and what they are looking forward to as they launch their careers in engineering analysis and simulation I was so ecstatic when I got the news I won. I was on my way home from work when I received congratulatory emails

Awards

03 April 2021

Gian Hauenstein - DACH Student Award Winner

DACH Student Award Winner In this series, we've asked some of the winners from the 2020 NAFEMS Student Awards to give us their thoughts on what winning the award means to them, and what they are looking forward to as they launch their careers in engineering analysis and simulation Numerical simulation is for me not just an engineering tool to develop new products, combine multiple physics,

Awards

02 April 2021

Giulia Creed - UK Student Award Winner

UK Student Award Winner In this series, we've asked some of the winners from the 2020 NAFEMS Student Awards to give us their thoughts on what winning the award means to them, and what they are looking forward to as they launch their careers in engineering analysis and simulation I really enjoyed my Medical Engineering degree and my time at university. I chose to study Medical Engineering

Awards Biomedical

04 April 2021

Why are we setting up a Diversity and Inclusion Committee?

Olivia Bugaj, NAFEMS - July 8th 2021 Why is Diversity and Inclusion important to us? At a personal level At NAFEMS, we are fully committed to building an increasingly diverse community and we want everyone to be treated fairly and with respect. By valuing individuality and identity, we develop a sense of belonging and give engineering the best chance of becoming more ethical and more

Artifical Intelligence Diversity

08 July 2021

Jonathan Jamison - UK Student Winner 2nd Prize winner

UK Student Winner 2nd Prize winner In this series, we've asked some of the winners from the 2020 NAFEMS Student Awards to give us their thoughts on what winning the award means to them, and what they are looking forward to as they launch their careers in engineering analysis and simulation How winning has made me feel Winning second prize in the ‘Simulation Techniques - Outstanding Project

Awards

01 April 2021

True Diversity and Inclusion Needs Engagement from Everyone.

We have had eight diversity and inclusion meetings so far, and we hope you will be attending the next one on March 19th. These open-to-all meetings are a way for us to listen to our community and receive feedback. The discussions also provide an opportunity to gather tips and recommendations from members who are already on this journey and showing us the path to follow. At the last meeting we

Diversity

30 March 2021

Designing for Sustainability with CAE Simulation

8-minute read Keith Hanna, Hexagon | MSC Software - July 30th 2021 Nearly 30 years ago some 1,700 scientists signed a slim document entitled “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity” with the opening sentence including this eye-catching statement: “Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course...”. Twenty-five years later a second document was released, this time signed by over

MSC Software Renewables Sustainability

30 July 2021

Ms. Ioana Tircomnicu-Unga: NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee Member

Judit Oldal, NAFEMS - July 27th 2021 We are pleased to bring you a series of posts about the NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee members so you can learn more about them. First up is Ms. Ioana Tircomnicu-Unga. Tell us briefly about yourself Passionate about how digital technologies can help companies in almost every industry improve products and efficiency, I work closely with

NAFEMS Eastern Europe simulation steering committee

27 July 2021

Kimon Afsaridis: NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee Member

Judit Oldal, NAFEMS - August 6th 2021 As part of our series on the NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee members, we would like to introduce you to Kimon Afsaridis. Tell us briefly about yourself I am the Vice President of Altair’s Indirect Business for the EMEA region. For more than 10 years I have been active in the simulation industry from different positions, with a focus on building

NAFEMS Eastern Europe

06 August 2021

Women in Engineering: Real Experiences

6-minute read Natasha Bougourd, SMD - August 17th 2021 Currently, women represent only eight percent of employees in engineering in the UK. This is in stark contrast to the UK workforce as a whole, of which women make up 47%. For many women, entering a sector that’s perceived as a “boy’s club” isn’t always appealing. If a sector looks unwelcoming to women from the outside, it’s unlikely to

Diversity Recruitment

17 August 2021

Verification & Validation – An Introduction

7-minute read NAFEMS SGMWG - August 26th 2021 In the first of a series, the NAFEMS Simulation Governance & Management Working Group hosted a discussion introducing the concept of Verification and Validation. As well as reading the conversation here, you can watch the video on YouTube, as well as listen to the audio on the NAFEMS Podcast. The discussion was hosted by Chris Rogers, Chair of

Simulation Governance Validation Verification

26 August 2021

20 years of SPDM in Production

5-minute read David Quinn - September 20th 2021 What lessons can we learn from the past 20 years of SPDM? How do you get started with an SDM system if you're not on board already? What about the next 20 years of SPDM? I caught up with Mark Norris, of the SDM Consultancy, to talk about these and other topics, as well as his upcoming keynote presentation at the NAFEMS International SPDM

NWC21 SDM

20 September 2021

Petr Konas: NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee Member

Judith Oldal, NAFEMS - August 18th 2021 As part of our series on the NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee members, we would like to introduce you to Petr Konas. Tell us briefly about yourself I'm Head of R&D at SVS FEM s.r.o. (ANSYS provider for Czech and Slovak Rep.). I'm responsible for leading and providing development, research and code customization in multi physical tasks for

18 August 2021

Start Your Engines! Talking Hypercar Simulation

Talking Hypercar Simulation with Ivan Krajinović of Rimac Automobili 5-minute read David Quinn - September 9th 2021 Dr. Ivan Krajinović is Simulations Manager at Rimac, the electric hypercar manufacturer based in Croatia. He leads the Simulation department, which is responsible for structural, electrical and thermal simulations of different components of the electric powertrain, working

Automotive multi-physics NWC21

08 September 2021

Marek Linhart: NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee Member

Judith Oldal, NAFEMS - September 20th 2021 As part of our series on the NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee members, we would like to introduce you to Marek Linhart. Tell us briefly about yourself I'm Head of R&D at SVS FEM s.r.o. (ANSYS provider for Czech and Slovak Rep.). I'm responsible for leading and providing development, research and code customization in multi physical tasks

20 September 2021

Is Multiphysics the key to bringing everything together?

11-minute read David Quinn - September 30th 2021 Gernot Boiger is a professor of Modeling Multiphysics Applications and head of Multiphysics Modeling and Imaging at Zurich University of Applied Sciences -ZHAW. He teaches and develops Multiphysics simulations for applied R&D and leads a team of around 20 researchers. He's also European vice president of the International Society of

multi-physics NWC21

30 September 2021

Franjo Juretic: NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee Member

Judith Oldal, NAFEMS - October 20th 2021 As part of our series on the NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee members, we would like to introduce you to Franjo Juretic. Tell us briefly about yourself After getting my PhD at Imperial College in London I worked for AVL-AST in their Zagreb office for 8 years as , where I was a Team Leader for pre-processing and mesh generation. At the same

20 October 2021

Bogdan-Emilian Badescu: NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee Member

Judith Oldal, NAFEMS - November 29th 2021 As part of our series on the NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee members, we would like to introduce you to Bogdan-Emilian Badescu. Tell us briefly about yourself I currently hold the position of Integrated CAE&PLM Senior Manager at Renault Technologie Roumanie, a position best described as Head of Digital in Engineering.Renault Technologie

29 November 2021

Why should you attend the NAFEMS World Congress 2021?

2-minute read The NWC21 Team - October 13th 2021 NWC21 is almost here and there is still time to register for this landmark event in the simulation and analysis community. For the first time, the Congress is genuinely globally accessible no matter where you are located. Now it's time to act, and you may be asking "why should I register?" Here's why: 1. This is the only independent global

NWC21

13 October 2021

The 12 Resources of Christmas

Introducing the 12 Resources of Christmas! 2-minute read The NAFEMS Team - December 23rd 2021 If you're looking for some festive simulation entertainment (aren't we all!) , we've selected 12 pieces of exclusive content for you to get stuck in to. There are thousands of resources available on our resource centre , with over 1,000 added in the past 12 months alone. We've selected the pick

Downloads NAFEMS Members

23 December 2021

9 Key Technical Takeaways from the NAFEMS World Congress 2021

8-minute read Ian Symington, NAFEMS - January 26th 2022 While there is no doubt that we all missed meeting up in person at the 2021 NAFEMS World congress, one of the big positives of a virtual event is that we have hundreds and hundreds of hours of content available on demand. I know you are all busy people and I have picked out some of the event highlights. If you find the selected

Artifical Intelligence Certification Data Science multi-physics NWC21 Reduced Order Modelling SDM

26 January 2022

Dubravka Mijuca: NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee Member

Judit Oldal, NAFEMS - March 9th 2022 As part of our series on the NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee members, we would like to introduce you to Dubravka Mijuca. Tell us briefly about yourself I am a university professor, scientific researcher, and industrial project leader who provides numerical simulation services to a capital engineering project in Serbia and abroad. Regarding my

NAFEMS Eastern Europe NAFEMS Members

11 February 2022

Attila Papp: NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee Member

Judith Oldal, NAFEMS - February 11th 2022 As part of our series on the NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee members, we would like to introduce you to Attila Papp. Tell us briefly about yourself I graduated in the field of electrical engineering and computer science and for more than 15 years I have been involved in the PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) and simulation business as sales

11 February 2022

Simulation and Analysis in the Medical Device Industry - the Six Million Dollar Inspiration

6-minute read David Quinn - February 22nd 2022 Mark Palmer is a distinguished scientist in the Core Technologies Group within corporate strategic scientific operations at Medtronic, plc. There he leads a team of advanced modeling and simulation consultants, manages external collaborations, and leads the strategy and platform technologies for realistic human simulation. He's active on

Biomedical NAFEMS Members NWC21

22 February 2022

Credibility is Everything

(Or How to Get the Most from Verification and Validation…) 5-minute read Sinothile Baloyi - March 31st 2022 “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” - Thomas Edison Sure, and well done for persisting Edison, but how much did that cost in time and materials? Yikes! Luckily, we have come a long way since, and nowadays we can simulate and perform those 10,000

ASME Biomedical Simulation Governance Validation Verification VVUQ

31 March 2022

Code Verification v Solution Verification

A Discussion with the NAFEMS SGMWG 9-minute read NAFEMS SGMWG - April 7th 2022 In the next part of this series, the NAFEMS Simulation Governance & Management Working Group hosted a discussion looking at code verification v solution verification. As well as reading the conversation here, you can watch the video on YouTube. The discussion features William Oberkampf (WO) & Gregory Westwater

Simulation Governance Validation Verification VVUQ

07 April 2022

Define and Deliver Credible Results - Your Questions, Answered

Your Questions, Answered. 2-minute read April 28th 2022 NAFEMS Americas recently presented a webinar with Linda Knudsen from Syncroness on the importance of simulation result credibility, titled ‘Define and Deliver Credible Results.’ We summarised some of the key points in this article, and you can view the full webinar in our resource centre. Here are some of the questions (with the

Q&A simulation Simulation Governance Validation Verification VVUQ

28 April 2022

Verification - How Much Should I Do?

A Discussion with the NAFEMS SGMWG 4-minute read NAFEMS SGMWG - May 4th 2022 In the next part of this series, the NAFEMS Simulation Governance & Management Working Group discussed how much verification you need to do, and when to do it. As well as reading the conversation here, you can watch the video on YouTube. The discussion features William Oberkampf (WO) & Gregory Westwater (GW),

Simulation Governance Validation Verification

04 May 2022

Uncertain Knowledge: A Challenge Problem

7-minute read NAFEMS Stochastics Working Group - June 16th 2022 The NAFEMS Stochastics Working Group (SWG) has developed a guide entitled "What is Uncertainty Quantification (UQ)?" [1] describing the basic steps and definitions of Uncertainty Quantification, it has also hosted several discussions and webinars around the topic. Recently, the group updated the definitions of the Probabilistic

Challenge Problem simulation Stochastics

16 June 2022

Industry 4.0, 5.0, and Beyond: Are You Ready for the Revolution?

Are You Ready for the Revolution? 5-minute read Sinothile Baloyi - July 19th 2022 If there’s one thing we’ve learned in the past two years it’s that even though we can never fully predict the future, we must plan for it anyway. It was this sort of thinking that led the communities at Revolution in Simulation and NAFEMS to come together for a webinar series exploring how the latest

Data Industry 5.0 Sustainability

19 July 2022

Modelling Structural Failure - What does it Mean to You?

What does it mean to you? 1-minute read NAFEMS Computational Structural Mechanics Working Group - August 8th 2022 NAFEMS' Computational Structural Mechanics Working Group (CSMWG) are excited to see “Modelling Structural Failure” as one of the topics being covered at the NAFEMS World Congress 2023 , as it’s one of the main areas of interest for the group. But the more we thought about it,

08 August 2022

The Big Book Sale 2022

The Big NAFEMS Book Sales has now finished. For a limited time, we've slashed prices on a number of our best-selling printed publications, as well as discounting shipping costs. There are a whole host of books on offer at exclusive prices to both members and non-members, but orders need to be placed and paid for no later than midnight on September 9th 2022 to lock-in these exclusive discounts.

24 August 2022

5 Reasons to Present at NWC23

2-minute read NAFEMS - September 1st 2022 The NAFEMS World Congress 2023 will take place in Tampa, Florida, USA, in May 2023 (15th-18th, to be exact). We're gearing up to make this Congress the most memorable yet, as we finally bring the global engineering simulation community back together. And we want you to be part of it. You can submit a 300-600 word abstract for the Congress by

Conferences NWC23

01 September 2022

How do you get ready for 2030? You've got to start now: How simulation is changing and what you need to do to keep up

You've got to start now: How simulation is changing and what you need to do to keep up 5-minute read Monica Schnitger - August 29th 2022 In the webinar ‘The Changing World of Simulation’ Monica Schnitger, founder, president, and principal analyst at Schnitger Corporation gives us the lay of the land in terms of where we are in the world of simulation and where it looks like we’re headed.

Business Benefits Cloud Computing Digital Twins Future of Simulation

29 August 2022

Developing Efficient Structural Concepts for the Future of Mobility

5-minute read Sinothile Baloyi - October 20th 2022 The automotive and aerospace industries are undergoing huge changes brought on by the urgent demand for action towards reducing humanity’s carbon footprint. For the automotive industry in particular, there is an additional pressure to evolve the driver’s role, to liberate them from the reins, as it were. Not only will this allow the driver

Aerospace Automotive Data Future of Simulation Simulation Data Sustainability

20 October 2022

How Much Can We Really Trust Artificial Intelligence?

4-minute read Sinothile Baloyi - November 10th 2022 In August 2021 Wired magazine published an article about a study that discovered that a neural network trained to read x-ray scans was also predicting subject patients’ racial identity, a non-biological category. The most interesting —and concerning— thing about this discovery was that no one could explain why the algorithms were able to

Artificial Intelligence Future of Simulation Machine Learning Simulation Governance

10 November 2022

Is your modelling and simulation capability up to scratch?

2-minute read Sinothile Baloyi - January 12th 2023 Is there a shared, aligned goal across your whole organisation when it comes to modelling and simulation? In a recent webinar, Andy Richardson, a chartered engineer with 30 years’ experience and a fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers(IMechE), looked at this and other questions that leadership and management should be asking

Business Benefits CAE Software simulation Simulation Governance

12 January 2023

The Case for Reckless Engineering

6-minute read Sinothile Baloyi - February 28th 2023 Remember when you were a child and built entire worlds out of just your imagination and some LEGO® bricks, sticks, rocks, or whatever you could lay your hands on? You knew you were building something , but often, at the very beginning, you didn’t know exactly how it was going to turn out. Sure, LEGO bricks often come with instructions for

Upfront Simulation

28 February 2023

Model Calibration and Model Validation - What's the Difference?

A Discussion with the NAFEMS SGMWG 12-minute read NAFEMS SGMWG - March 22nd 2023 As part of an ongoing series, the NAFEMS Simulation Governance & Management Working Group present a discussion about the difference between model calibration and model validation. As well as reading the conversation here, you can watch the video on YouTube. The discussion was hosted by Gregory Westwater (GW,

Simulation Governance Validation Verification

22 March 2023

Mind the Gap

6-minute read Sinothile Baloyi - April 21st 2023 In 1765 James Watt improved Thomas Newcomen’s steam engine, to such an extent that he often gets incorrectly credited with inventing the whole thing himself. How did he do this? Perhaps it was simply serendipity, or could his access at a young age to his father’s shipbuilding workshops - all those hours spent building models of cranes, barrel

Education simulation simulation engineer

21 April 2023

What's in a Cookie? Simulation in the Food & Drink Industry

6-minute read Sinothile Baloyi - June 30th 2023 Your favourite packaged cookie. What is it, actually? Let’s just focus on the basic ingredients of the kind of cookie you might bake yourself. So, probably wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, maybe chocolate, butter, and flavourings. Now let’s think about the physical properties of each ingredient, the things that your cookie is before it’s a

Food Future of Simulation simulation Sustainability UK

30 June 2023

Simulation Predictions Within the Validation Domain

A Discussion with the NAFEMS SGMWG 14-minute read NAFEMS SGMWG - August 17th 2023 As part of an ongoing series, the NAFEMS Simulation Governance & Management Working Group present a discussion on Model Predictive Capability. As well as reading the conversation here, you can watch the video on YouTube. The discussion was hosted by Gregory Westwater (GW, Emerson Automation Solutions) and

Simulation Governance Validation Verification VVUQ

17 August 2023

Multibody Dynamics Simulation - Modelling the Imperfect Perfectly

5-minute read Patrick Morelle - September 14th 2023 Modeling a pair of gears does not seem too complicated a task. Coupling two angles of rotations, describing the geometry of the gears, really, nothing too complicated. It could all be described as a routine job for any and every MBD software in the world. Now, let us ask ourselves: What could be the role of a “simple” MBD model of a

Automotive Education MBD Multibody Dynamics

14 September 2023

The RAAC Crisis in the UK – How can Engineering Analysis and Simulation Help Prevent a Reoccurrence?

5-minute read David Quinn & Sinothile Baloyi - September 15th 2023 Remedial work being carried out at Mayflower Primary School in Leicester, which has been affected with sub standard reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). Picture date: Monday September 4, 2023. Source: Alamy / PA Like all materials, RAAC (Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete) has a finite operating life.

Construction RAAC Safety UK

15 September 2023

How do I Switch On

01 January 2013

Modelling and Simulation of Cyber-physical Systems

Modelling and Simulation of Cyber-physical Systems 5-minute read Sinothile Baloyi - February 22nd 2024 In 2006 Dr Helen Gill, then program manager of the United States National Science Foundation (USNSF) coined the term Cyber-physical Systems . Before that, we had Cybernetics, a term invented by mathematician Norbert Wiener. And before that we had the Greek word kybernan; to steer. So

Cyber-physical Systems Future of Simulation Industry 5.0 Validation

22 February 2024

NAFEMS Publications for Small & Medium-Sized Businesses

1-minute read NAFEMS Americas - November 28th 2023 Do you work at a small or medium-sized business? Is it your responsibility to manage your company’s investment and use of engineering analysis & simulation? Are you looking for an independent authority providing best practices in the development of reliable products and innovative solutions? Well, NAFEMS has you covered. The following

28 November 2023

Is Engineering Simulation Ready for AI?

How Prepared is our Community? 1-minute read March 8th 2024 NAFEMS is investigating how ready the engineering simulation community is to adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) into its daily workflows. By completing this survey on your organisation's readiness, you will contribute to vital research that will give everyone involved in engineering simulation real insight

08 March 2024

The Evolving World of Simulation- When, How, How Much, and If

When, How, How Much, and If 4-minute read Sinothile Baloyi - July 31st 2024 Many great innovations emerge from wars and other existential threats, why exactly that is is complicated, but perhaps at a simplified level, it’s something to do with the fact that when it comes to eliminating real threat to life, there is no cost too great. Computer simulation is one such innovation that found in

31 July 2024

A Story to Remember: Quantifying the Business Impact of Simulation

5-minute read Sinothile Baloyi - December 3rd 2024 We all do it; every human society has its own storytelling tradition. Why does storytelling matter, and what place do stories have in the business of engineering? Let your work speak for itself, right? But we know that doesn’t really work. That’s why marketing departments and agencies exist, because without those storytellers, brilliant

ASSESS Business Benefits simulation

03 December 2024

The Advantages of Membership

NAFEMS World Congress 2025

NAFEMS Training

NAFEMS Events

Your Community

Resources

Professional Development

What is NAFEMS?

Blog

Exploding Dough And Fun With Carrots

Stick Forward, Full Opposite Rudder

FEA for Managers & Reviewers - Q&A

Excuse me, how do I switch it on?

A Train of Thought

The “Usual Suspects”

Anecdotal Evidence

Clyde Cessna's Famous Photo

Unwind With A Little Post-Crash Mozart

Shot-Peening Over Coffee and Pie

Recent live NAFEMS on-site classes and other updates

Simulation Driven Design: Just How Far Have We Come?

Boyhood

The CFD interview

From Wind Tunnels to High Performance Computing

Analysis Origins - ABAQUS

Wind tunnels winding test engineers up

Hendrix, Van Halen, Newton and Einstein

I want (CAE) candy!

Big Time Manager

Hello NAFEMS Folks

Key to Championing Simulation

Does Multiphysics Make Fools of Us All?

The Best Simulation Toolbox: Integrated Suite or Granular Apps

The Four ROIs of Simulation

Pre-CAD Simulation: Where True Engineering Occurs?

Systems Simulation: Far-off Future or Feasible Now?

The Implications of the Cloud for Simulation

Continuous Systems Validation- Implications for Software Solutions

Interview with Ralph Sundermeier

Continuous Systems Validation- Progressive Design Representations

Growing Pains

Analysis Origins - MSC and NASTRAN

They've Found it! Beagle 2 Lander Found on Mars after 12 Years

Analysis Origins - KFX and FLACS

Analysis Origins - Fluent

Focus on: Optimisation

Focus on: Manufacturing Simulation

Focus on: Structural Dynamics

Focus on: Computational Fluid Dynamics

Focus on: Simulation Data Management

Focus on: Composites

Focus on: Joints & Connections

Analysis Origins - OptiStruct

What Next for Diversity in Engineering Simulation?

Vasilios Halkias - Americas Student Award Winner

Gian Hauenstein - DACH Student Award Winner

Giulia Creed - UK Student Award Winner

Why are we setting up a Diversity and Inclusion Committee?

Jonathan Jamison - UK Student Winner 2nd Prize winner

True Diversity and Inclusion Needs Engagement from Everyone.

Designing for Sustainability with CAE Simulation

Ms. Ioana Tircomnicu-Unga: NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee Member

Kimon Afsaridis: NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee Member

Women in Engineering: Real Experiences

Verification & Validation – An Introduction

20 years of SPDM in Production

Petr Konas: NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee Member

Start Your Engines! Talking Hypercar Simulation

Marek Linhart: NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee Member

Is Multiphysics the key to bringing everything together?

Franjo Juretic: NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee Member

Bogdan-Emilian Badescu: NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee Member

Why should you attend the NAFEMS World Congress 2021?

The 12 Resources of Christmas

9 Key Technical Takeaways from the NAFEMS World Congress 2021

Dubravka Mijuca: NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee Member

Attila Papp: NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee Member

Simulation and Analysis in the Medical Device Industry - the Six Million Dollar Inspiration

Credibility is Everything

Code Verification v Solution Verification