NAFEMS in Canada: The Engineering Simulation Roadshow - Montreal

15 September 2026
Sheraton Montreal Airport Hotel, 555 Boulevard McMillan, Montreal, QC H9P 1B7

The Canada Roadshow opens in Montreal. The day pairs a keynote on where artificial intelligence is genuinely useful to simulation engineers with a hands-on verification session from Dominique Madier, both built around one question: how do you know your model is right? This is a day for engineers, analysts and technical managers, open to members and non-members alike.

Keynote: Where AI actually helps simulation engineers

Jean-Francois Labrecque, Maya HTT

Artificial intelligence is now a priority in most engineering organisations, but many simulation teams are still asking a basic question: what does it mean for day-to-day work? This keynote gives a practical read on the AI landscape for simulation, the trends worth watching, and a way to tell where AI adds real value rather than replacing engineering judgement.

It closes with two working examples: an AI assistant that uses the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to interact directly with simulation models, and a knowledge assistant that draws on heritage data to help engineers reach better decisions faster. You leave with a grounded view of what the current tools can and cannot do, and ideas you can apply in your own team.

Jean-Francois Labrecque has more than 15 years in spacecraft engineering, including roles at the Canadian Space Agency and MDA Space. As a team lead at Maya HTT, he works on thermal analysis, simulation workflows and AI-enabled engineering.

Training session: The Model Verification Toolkit

Led by Dominique Madier, Founder and Director, FEA Academy. Most FEA errors are built into a model before the solver runs, and most are avoidable. In this working session Dominique walks through the checks that show whether a model is mathematically sound and whether it reflects physical reality, then covers test-analysis correlation.

Topics include:

• Accuracy checks against mathematical checks, and the verification against validation distinction
• Singularities, mechanisms, and the epsilon vector
• Weight, applied load, and reacted load checks
• Free-free modal and ground checks
• Unit gravity, unit enforced displacement, and free thermal strain checks
• A structured pre-solve verification checklist
• Test-analysis correlation: strain gauge measurement, FEM strain extraction, validation factor calculation, and correlation plotting

Dominique Madier is a senior FEA consultant with over 25 years of experience and more than 40,000 hours of NASTRAN modelling, and the founder of FEA Academy. Full session breakdown and biography are on the roadshow programme page.

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About NAFEMS

NAFEMS is the International Association for the Engineering Modelling, Analysis and Simulation Community, a not-for-profit organisation that has supported the global simulation community for over 40 years. The day includes a short briefing on NAFEMS membership, technical resources, working groups, PSE Certification and our event programme.