Is FEA model verification important?

In a word, VERY.

Appearance versus Content

Any analyst can produce numbers and present "pretty pictures" showing stress fields, streamlines, and temperature gradients. The answer has to make sense and be believable. The FEA approach must pass scrutiny from all sides until confidence is earned.

Forensic Verification

From a forensic standpoint, it will be necessary to demonstrate the failure mode and location with an FEA simulation. If the new design passes the failure criteria established by the forensic analysis and utilizes the same FEA approach, then the model can be said to be verified and the methodology can be applied to other designs. Failing this, FEA has not accomplished anything.

The Analyst's Grasp

The verification process will ultimately depend on the analyst's ability to capture the event physics and persuasively communicate his/her rationale to the customer. If the problem is really a material property question and no published data is available, then laboratory determination of properties will be suggested.