ESI’s first Expert Composites Seminar declared a resounding success

Guest speakers from renowned research institutions included Professor Christophe Binetruy (ENSTIM Douai, France), Professor Philippe Boisse (INSA Lyon, France), Eric Deneux (Pôle de Plasturgie de l’Est, France), Dr. Alastair Johnson (German Aerospace Institute, Germany), Professor Stepan Lomov (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium), Serge Mouton (University of Bordeaux, France), Dr. Alex Skordos (Cranfield University, UK) and Dr. Magnus Svanberg (Swerea SICOMP AB, Sweden). An intimate setting allowed for much interaction and exchange between the speakers and the delegates, who joined the seminar from more than 14 companies and academic institutions, in 7 different countries.

Learning from the latest advances in composites modeling allows CAE engineers and scientists from industry and research centers to overcome design and manufacturing challenges of composite components thanks to Virtual Prototyping. By discussing new market trends and with the latest state-of-the-art technology for composites simulation presented, participants were able to brainstorm and exchange ideas about the future enhancements needed in composites simulation.

“The recent Expert Composites Seminar provided me with the perfect networking opportunity to meet with many technical experts and people generally interested in the niche field of advanced composite process modeling and structural analysis simulation,” said Ms. Janna Fabris, Research Engineer at Boeing Research and Technology Australia. “I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the many speakers addressing the fundamental process physics in composites simulation and emerging trends with respect to automating and integrating this advanced technology into reliable software tools.”

“The effort to bring together experts from the composite community was both remarkable and necessary,” declared Mr. HG Prasad, Lead Engineer, Process design at LM Wind Power. “Irrespective of the software product, the challenges faced in the industry are the same, and solutions do exist in various parts of the community.  Until now, we were just missing a platform to share these good practices, which is what ESI achieved by bringing in experts to share their solutions.  This forum needs to be kept alive by meeting at regular intervals.”

The variety of attendees highlighted the challenges faced in different industry sectors including automotive, aerospace, aeronautics, marine and wind energy.

The overall feedback on the seminar was very positive, with 100% of attendees feeling that their expectations in terms of presentation quality and content were either fully satisfied or overachieved. 100% of the participants expressed interest in attending the next Expert Composites Seminar in 2011 and over 70% in attending other ESI Expert Seminars relevant to their business.

“We believe that this first Expert Composites Seminar provided a great insight into many domains that are going to form the building blocks of the best-practice that is currently under development. To be more specific, the Manufacturing Process Simulation and its use, not only in manufacturing but also in economical, robust and safe design, were extensively discussed amongst the participants,” said Dr. Patrick de Luca, Composites Solution Manager at ESI Group. “With a diverse range of thought-provoking presentations, this seminar turned out to be a great place for networking and discussions. ESI will continue to host other Expert Seminars to encourage the integration of new industrial methodologies into the development of composite materials.”