22. CAD-FEM Users`Meeting 2004 - Internationale FEM Technologietage

Fluid-Structure interaction in Dresden

CAD-FEM GmbH and ANSYS Germany GmbH welcomed 650 participants to the very first joint Users' Meeting in Dresden, Germany.

The very first, joint annual Users' Meeting of CAD-FEM GmbH and ANSYS Germany GmbH was held from 10th to 12th November of this year. The conference motto "Fluid Meets Structure" attracted 650 attendees from the industry, as well as the sectors of research and teaching, who met at the recently opened Dresden International Conference Centre. Participants could choose from up to 12 simultaneous lecture sessions dealing with a range of different topics.

Thus the conference, formed by the 22nd CAD-FEM Users' Meeting - International Congress on FEM-Technology and the ANSYS CFX & ICEM CFD Conference, has probably become the largest convention on analysis and simulation in Europe. Thirty-five companies presented their products and services in the accompanying exhibition, sponsored by Sun, ANSYS Inc., Fujitsu-Siemens Computers, AMD, Sgi, Autodesk, Moldflow, and HP.

Although for the past 4 years CAD-FEM Users' Meetings have been held in Friedrichshafen, on the Lake of Constance, or Potsdam, this year's event was held in Dresden. The congress was "merged" with the ANSYS CFX & ICEM CFD Conference for the very first time, and the motto chosen was "Fluid Meets Structure". With its appealing shape and architecture, and modern facilities, the new Dresden International Congress Center, inaugurated in May 2004, was an appropriate location for the conference.

Lecture sessions dealing with 22 topics, plus 8 workshops

The record number of 650 participants clearly exceeded last year's total figures for the two separately held conferences. Although the largest group of participants comprised engineers from the analysis departments of major automotive and mechanical engineering companies and their supporting industry, representatives from small and medium sized companies operating in this and other fields were also present, as were users from science, research and teaching. Participants were able to choose from a selection of 30 different sessions. Apart from the different aspects of "classical" analysis topics, such as statics, dynamics, and fluid mechanics, attendees were also presented with and given the opportunity to discuss the state of the art in new areas of use, such as biotechnology, process simulation, and materials. The most interesting, topical issues included coupling fluid and structure analysis ("Fluid Meets Structure"), joining multidisciplinary analysis and structural analysis, and quality in simulation.

The workshops dealing with special topics, i.e. crash-simulation, rotating machinery flows, BioMEMS, and ANSYS-programming, which had always been part of the ANSYS CFX conference but were new at the CAD-FEM users' meeting, also attracted a large number of participants.

User Group Meetings

Software company representatives presented both the current and future developments of their programs. Apart from dominating systems such as ANSYS, LS-DYNA, ANSYS CFX and ICEM CFD, user meetings were also held on Moldflow, ESAcomp, B-SIM und T-SIM, and VirtualPaintShop (VPS). The latter was the first meeting of its kind dealing with this tool, developed by CAD-FEM and currently used all over the world. Thus, automotive companies from all over Europe, the U.S., and Asia sent their representatives to Dresden.

Sponsors and exhibitors

Hard- and software manufacturers alike recognized the importance of the event, which had only been made possible through their sponsorship. Sun Microsystems, Fujitsu-Siemens Computers, and AMD, Sgi and HP were the main sponsors from the hardware sector. Software manufacturers ANSYS Inc., Moldflow and Autodesk, offering Inventor Professional 9, a FEM module based on ANSYS, also sponsored the conference.

In the accompanying exhibition, 35 companies exhibited their hardware and peripheral products, CAE-software as well as their CAE service range.

Conference socials

As always, the social events organised during the conference also managed to meet the attendees' high expectations. The traditional, informal dinner was organised for Wednesday night in the exhibition area and visitors entertained by the well-known Dresden jazz combo, the "Blue Wonder Jazzband". Thursday night's social evening offered a varied program, ranging from a virtual tour of Dresden, to ANSYS and Art, and culinary as well as visual highlights, namely the first-run of the "CAD-FEM movie". Musical entertainment was provided by the "Nonets", an a cappella group from Dresden.