In technical computing, models are used to solve a huge variety of problems, ranging from traffic management to crop growth predictions and clinical trials to air quality.
Modelling and simulation of systems can provide solutions for product development and personnel training without the costs usually associated with these activities. Simulation provides a method for developing, analyzing, modifying and testing systems, instead of physically building them, with the associated cost benefits.
Tackling the modelling of a process or an operation can involve many possible techniques, all of which may require mathematical and software development, including:
- Dynamical models of physical systems
- Statistical modelling
- Monte Carlo analyses (also known as ensemble modelling)
- Risk analysis
The accuracy and precision of the simulation have to be balanced against its execution speed and development time. It is important to determine the level of detail appropriate to the modelled system and the simulation’s purpose: too little and the results will be meaningless, too much and the simulation will take too long to run. Moreover, it is crucial that the model is correct. Validation, verification and calibration should be used to check that the theoretical model accurately describes the system being modelled and that the software model conforms to the theoretical model.
