Computersimulation

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Acomputersimulationisasimulation,
runonasinglecomputer,oranetwork
ofcomputers,toreproducebehaviorof
asystem.Thesimulationusesan
abstractmodel(acomputermodel,ora
computationalmodel)tosimulatethe
system.Computersimulationshave
becomeausefulpartofmathematical
modelingofmanynaturalsystemsin
physics(computationalphysics),
astrophysics,climatology,chemistry
andbiology,humansystemsin
economics,psychology,socialscience,
andengineering.Simulationofasystem
isrepresentedastherunningofthe
system'smodel.Itcanbeusedto
exploreandgainnewinsightsintonew
technologyandtoestimatethe
performanceofsystemstoocomplexfor
analyticalsolutions.[1]

A48hourcomputersimulationofTyphoonMawarusingthe
WeatherResearchandForecastingmodel

Computersimulationsvaryfrom
computerprogramsthatrunafew
minutestonetworkbasedgroupsofcomputersrunningforhourstoongoingsimulationsthatrunfordays.
Thescaleofeventsbeingsimulatedbycomputersimulationshasfarexceededanythingpossible(or
perhapsevenimaginable)usingtraditionalpaperandpencilmathematicalmodeling.Over10yearsago,a
desertbattlesimulationofoneforceinvadinganotherinvolvedthemodelingof66,239tanks,trucksand
othervehiclesonsimulatedterrainaroundKuwait,usingmultiplesupercomputersintheDoDHigh
PerformanceComputerModernizationProgram[2]Otherexamplesincludea1billionatommodelof
materialdeformation[3]a2.64millionatommodelofthecomplexmakerofproteininallorganisms,a
ribosome,in2005[4]acompletesimulationofthelifecycleofMycoplasmagenitaliumin2012andthe
BlueBrainprojectatEPFL(Switzerland),beguninMay2005tocreatethefirstcomputersimulationofthe
entirehumanbrain,rightdowntothemolecularlevel.[5]
Becauseofthecomputationalcostofsimulation,computerexperimentsareusedtoperforminferencesuch
asuncertaintyquantification.[6]

Contents
1 Simulationversusmodel
2 History
3 Datapreparation

3
4
5
6

Datapreparation
Types
Visualization
Computersimulationinscience
6.1 Simulationenvironmentsforphysicsandengineering
7 Computersimulationinpracticalcontexts
8 Pitfalls
8.1 Modelcalibrationtechniques
9 Seealso
10 References
11 Furtherreading

Simulationversusmodel
Acomputermodelisthealgorithmsandequationsusedtocapturethebehaviorofthesystembeing
modeled.Bycontrast,acomputersimulationistheactualrunningoftheprogramthatcontainsthese
equationsoralgorithms.Simulation,therefore,istheprocessofrunningamodel.Thusonewouldnot
"buildasimulation"instead,onewould"buildamodel",andtheneither"runthemodel"orequivalently
"runasimulation".

History
Computersimulationdevelopedhandinhandwiththerapidgrowthofthecomputer,followingitsfirst
largescaledeploymentduringtheManhattanProjectinWorldWarIItomodeltheprocessofnuclear
detonation.Itwasasimulationof12hardspheresusingaMonteCarloalgorithm.Computersimulationis
oftenusedasanadjunctto,orsubstitutefor,modelingsystemsforwhichsimpleclosedformanalytic
solutionsarenotpossible.Therearemanytypesofcomputersimulationstheircommonfeatureisthe
attempttogenerateasampleofrepresentativescenariosforamodelinwhichacompleteenumerationofall
possiblestatesofthemodelwouldbeprohibitiveorimpossible.

Datapreparation
Theexternaldatarequirementsofsimulationsandmodelsvarywidely.Forsome,theinputmightbejusta
fewnumbers(forexample,simulationofawaveformofACelectricityonawire),whileothersmight
requireterabytesofinformation(suchasweatherandclimatemodels).
Inputsourcesalsovarywidely:
Sensorsandotherphysicaldevicesconnectedtothemodel
Controlsurfacesusedtodirecttheprogressofthesimulationinsomeway
Currentorhistoricaldataenteredbyhand
Valuesextractedasabyproductfromotherprocesses
Valuesoutputforthepurposebyothersimulations,models,orprocesses.
Lastly,thetimeatwhichdataisavailablevaries:
"invariant"dataisoftenbuiltintothemodelcode,eitherbecausethevalueistrulyinvariant(e.g.,the

valueof)orbecausethedesignersconsiderthevaluetobeinvariantforallcasesofinterest
datacanbeenteredintothesimulationwhenitstartsup,forexamplebyreadingoneormorefiles,or
byreadingdatafromapreprocessor
datacanbeprovidedduringthesimulationrun,forexamplebyasensornetwork.
Becauseofthisvariety,andbecausediversesimulationsystemshavemanycommonelements,therearea
largenumberofspecializedsimulationlanguages.ThebestknownmaybeSimula(sometimescalled
Simula67,aftertheyear1967whenitwasproposed).Therearenowmanyothers.
Systemsthatacceptdatafromexternalsourcesmustbeverycarefulinknowingwhattheyarereceiving.
Whileitiseasyforcomputerstoreadinvaluesfromtextorbinaryfiles,whatismuchharderisknowing
whattheaccuracy(comparedtomeasurementresolutionandprecision)ofthevaluesare.Oftentheyare
expressedas"errorbars",aminimumandmaximumdeviationfromthevaluerangewithinwhichthetrue
value(isexpectedto)lie.Becausedigitalcomputermathematicsisnotperfect,roundingandtruncation
errorsmultiplythiserror,soitisusefultoperforman"erroranalysis"[7]toconfirmthatvaluesoutputbythe
simulationwillstillbeusefullyaccurate.
Evensmallerrorsintheoriginaldatacanaccumulateintosubstantialerrorlaterinthesimulation.Whileall
computeranalysisissubjecttothe"GIGO"(garbagein,garbageout)restriction,thisisespeciallytrueof
digitalsimulation.Indeed,observationofthisinherent,cumulativeerrorindigitalsystemswasthemain
catalystforthedevelopmentofchaostheory.

Types
Computermodelscanbeclassifiedaccordingtoseveralindependentpairsofattributes,including:
Stochasticordeterministic(andasaspecialcaseofdeterministic,chaotic)seeexternallinksbelow
forexamplesofstochasticvs.deterministicsimulations
Steadystateordynamic
Continuousordiscrete(andasanimportantspecialcaseofdiscrete,discreteeventorDEmodels)
Dynamicsystemsimulation,e.g.electricsystems,hydraulicsystemsormultibodymechanical
systems(describedprimarelybyDAE:s)ordynamicssimulationoffieldproblems,e.g.CFDofFEM
simulations(describedbyPDE:s).
Localordistributed.
Anotherwayofcategorizingmodelsistolookattheunderlyingdatastructures.Fortimestepped
simulations,therearetwomainclasses:
Simulationswhichstoretheirdatainregulargridsandrequireonlynextneighboraccessarecalled
stencilcodes.ManyCFDapplicationsbelongtothiscategory.
Iftheunderlyinggraphisnotaregulargrid,themodelmaybelongtothemeshfreemethodclass.
Equationsdefinetherelationshipsbetweenelementsofthemodeledsystemandattempttofindastatein
whichthesystemisinequilibrium.Suchmodelsareoftenusedinsimulatingphysicalsystems,asasimpler
modelingcasebeforedynamicsimulationisattempted.
Dynamicsimulationsmodelchangesinasysteminresponseto(usuallychanging)inputsignals.
Stochasticmodelsuserandomnumbergeneratorstomodelchanceorrandomevents
Adiscreteeventsimulation(DES)manageseventsintime.Mostcomputer,logictestandfaulttree

simulationsareofthistype.Inthistypeofsimulation,thesimulatormaintainsaqueueofevents
sortedbythesimulatedtimetheyshouldoccur.Thesimulatorreadsthequeueandtriggersnew
eventsaseacheventisprocessed.Itisnotimportanttoexecutethesimulationinrealtime.Itisoften
moreimportanttobeabletoaccessthedataproducedbythesimulationandtodiscoverlogicdefects
inthedesignorthesequenceofevents.
Acontinuousdynamicsimulationperformsnumericalsolutionofdifferentialalgebraicequationsor
differentialequations(eitherpartialorordinary).Periodically,thesimulationprogramsolvesallthe
equationsandusesthenumberstochangethestateandoutputofthesimulation.Applicationsinclude
flightsimulators,constructionandmanagementsimulationgames,chemicalprocessmodeling,and
simulationsofelectricalcircuits.Originally,thesekindsofsimulationswereactuallyimplementedon
analogcomputers,wherethedifferentialequationscouldberepresenteddirectlybyvariouselectrical
componentssuchasopamps.Bythelate1980s,however,most"analog"simulationswererunon
conventionaldigitalcomputersthatemulatethebehaviorofananalogcomputer.
Aspecialtypeofdiscretesimulationthatdoesnotrelyonamodelwithanunderlyingequation,but
cannonethelessberepresentedformally,isagentbasedsimulation.Inagentbasedsimulation,the
individualentities(suchasmolecules,cells,treesorconsumers)inthemodelarerepresenteddirectly
(ratherthanbytheirdensityorconcentration)andpossessaninternalstateandsetofbehaviorsor
rulesthatdeterminehowtheagent'sstateisupdatedfromonetimesteptothenext.
Distributedmodelsrunonanetworkofinterconnectedcomputers,possiblythroughtheInternet.
Simulationsdispersedacrossmultiplehostcomputerslikethisareoftenreferredtoas"distributed
simulations".Thereareseveralstandardsfordistributedsimulation,includingAggregateLevel
SimulationProtocol(ALSP),DistributedInteractiveSimulation(DIS),theHighLevelArchitecture
(simulation)(HLA)andtheTestandTrainingEnablingArchitecture(TENA).

Visualization
Formerly,theoutputdatafromacomputersimulationwassometimespresentedinatableoramatrix
showinghowdatawereaffectedbynumerouschangesinthesimulationparameters.Theuseofthematrix
formatwasrelatedtotraditionaluseofthematrixconceptinmathematicalmodels.However,psychologists
andothersnotedthathumanscouldquicklyperceivetrendsbylookingatgraphsorevenmovingimagesor
motionpicturesgeneratedfromthedata,asdisplayedbycomputergeneratedimagery(CGI)animation.
Althoughobserverscouldnotnecessarilyreadoutnumbersorquotemathformulas,fromobservinga
movingweathercharttheymightbeabletopredictevents(and"seethatrainwasheadedtheirway")much
fasterthanbyscanningtablesofraincloudcoordinates.Suchintensegraphicaldisplays,whichtranscended
theworldofnumbersandformulae,sometimesalsoledtooutputthatlackedacoordinategridoromitted
timestamps,asifstrayingtoofarfromnumericdatadisplays.Today,weatherforecastingmodelstendto
balancetheviewofmovingrain/snowcloudsagainstamapthatusesnumericcoordinatesandnumeric
timestampsofevents.
Similarly,CGIcomputersimulationsofCATscanscansimulatehowatumormightshrinkorchange
duringanextendedperiodofmedicaltreatment,presentingthepassageoftimeasaspinningviewofthe
visiblehumanhead,asthetumorchanges.
OtherapplicationsofCGIcomputersimulationsarebeingdevelopedtographicallydisplaylargeamounts
ofdata,inmotion,aschangesoccurduringasimulationrun.

Computersimulationinscience

Genericexamplesoftypesofcomputer
simulationsinscience,whichare
derivedfromanunderlying
mathematicaldescription:
anumericalsimulationof
differentialequationsthatcannot
besolvedanalytically,theories
thatinvolvecontinuoussystems
suchasphenomenainphysical
cosmology,fluiddynamics(e.g.,
climatemodels,roadwaynoise
models,roadwayairdispersion
models),continuummechanics
andchemicalkineticsfallintothis
category.
astochasticsimulation,typically
usedfordiscretesystemswhere
eventsoccurprobabilisticallyand
whichcannotbedescribed
Processofbuildingacomputermodel,andtheinterplaybetween
directlywithdifferential
experiment,simulation,andtheory.
equations(thisisadiscrete
simulationintheabovesense).
Phenomenainthiscategoryincludegeneticdrift,
biochemicalorgeneregulatorynetworkswithsmall
numbersofmolecules.(seealso:MonteCarlomethod).
Specificexamplesofcomputersimulationsfollow:
statisticalsimulationsbaseduponanagglomerationofa
largenumberofinputprofiles,suchastheforecastingof
equilibriumtemperatureofreceivingwaters,allowingthe
gamutofmeteorologicaldatatobeinputforaspecific
locale.Thistechniquewasdevelopedforthermal
pollutionforecasting.
agentbasedsimulationhasbeenusedeffectivelyin
Computersimulationoftheprocessof
ecology,whereitisoftencalled"individualbased
osmosis
modeling"andisusedinsituationsforwhichindividual
variabilityintheagentscannotbeneglected,suchas
populationdynamicsofsalmonandtrout(mostpurelymathematicalmodelsassumealltroutbehave
identically).
timesteppeddynamicmodel.Inhydrologythereareseveralsuchhydrologytransportmodelssuchas
theSWMMandDSSAMModelsdevelopedbytheU.S.EnvironmentalProtectionAgencyforriver
waterqualityforecasting.
computersimulationshavealsobeenusedtoformallymodeltheoriesofhumancognitionand
performance,e.g.,ACTR.
computersimulationusingmolecularmodelingfordrugdiscovery.[8]
computersimulationforstudyingtheselectivesensitivityofbondsbymechanochemistryduring
grindingoforganicmolecules.[9]
Computationalfluiddynamicssimulationsareusedtosimulatethebehaviourofflowingair,water

andotherfluids.One,twoandthreedimensionalmodelsareused.Aonedimensionalmodelmight
simulatetheeffectsofwaterhammerinapipe.Atwodimensionalmodelmightbeusedtosimulate
thedragforcesonthecrosssectionofanaeroplanewing.Athreedimensionalsimulationmight
estimatetheheatingandcoolingrequirementsofalargebuilding.
Anunderstandingofstatisticalthermodynamicmoleculartheoryisfundamentaltotheappreciationof
molecularsolutions.DevelopmentofthePotentialDistributionTheorem(PDT)allowsthiscomplex
subjecttobesimplifiedtodowntoearthpresentationsofmoleculartheory.
Notable,andsometimescontroversial,computersimulationsusedinscienceinclude:DonellaMeadows'
World3usedintheLimitstoGrowth,JamesLovelock'sDaisyworldandThomasRay'sTierra.

Simulationenvironmentsforphysicsandengineering
Graphicalenvironmentstodesignsimulationshavebeendeveloped.Specialcarewastakentohandle
events(situationsinwhichthesimulationequationsarenotvalidandhavetobechanged).Theopenproject
OpenSourcePhysicswasstartedtodevelopreusablelibrariesforsimulationsinJava,togetherwithEasy
JavaSimulations,acompletegraphicalenvironmentthatgeneratescodebasedontheselibraries.

Computersimulationinpracticalcontexts
Computersimulationsareusedinawidevarietyofpracticalcontexts,suchas:
analysisofairpollutantdispersionusingatmosphericdispersionmodeling
designofcomplexsystemssuchasaircraftandalsologisticssystems.
designofnoisebarrierstoeffectroadwaynoisemitigation
modelingofapplicationperformance[10]
flightsimulatorstotrainpilots
weatherforecasting
forecastingofrisk
simulationofothercomputersisemulation.
forecastingofpricesonfinancialmarkets(forexampleAdaptiveModeler)
behaviorofstructures(suchasbuildingsandindustrialparts)understressandotherconditions
designofindustrialprocesses,suchaschemicalprocessingplants
strategicmanagementandorganizationalstudies
reservoirsimulationforthepetroleumengineeringtomodelthesubsurfacereservoir
processengineeringsimulationtools.
robotsimulatorsforthedesignofrobotsandrobotcontrolalgorithms
urbansimulationmodelsthatsimulatedynamicpatternsofurbandevelopmentandresponsestourban
landuseandtransportationpolicies.SeeamoredetailedarticleonUrbanEnvironmentSimulation.
trafficengineeringtoplanorredesignpartsofthestreetnetworkfromsinglejunctionsovercitiestoa
nationalhighwaynetworktotransportationsystemplanning,designandoperations.Seeamore
detailedarticleonSimulationinTransportation.
modelingcarcrashestotestsafetymechanismsinnewvehiclemodels.
cropsoilsystemsinagriculture,viadedicatedsoftwareframeworks(e.g.BioMA,OMS3,APSIM)
Thereliabilityandthetrustpeopleputincomputersimulationsdependsonthevalidityofthesimulation
model,thereforeverificationandvalidationareofcrucialimportanceinthedevelopmentofcomputer
simulations.Anotherimportantaspectofcomputersimulationsisthatofreproducibilityoftheresults,
meaningthatasimulationmodelshouldnotprovideadifferentanswerforeachexecution.Althoughthis

mightseemobvious,thisisaspecialpointofattentioninstochasticsimulations,whererandomnumbers
shouldactuallybesemirandomnumbers.Anexceptiontoreproducibilityarehumanintheloop
simulationssuchasflightsimulationsandcomputergames.Hereahumanispartofthesimulationandthus
influencestheoutcomeinawaythatishard,ifnotimpossible,toreproduceexactly.
Vehiclemanufacturersmakeuseofcomputersimulationtotestsafetyfeaturesinnewdesigns.Bybuilding
acopyofthecarinaphysicssimulationenvironment,theycansavethehundredsofthousandsofdollars
thatwouldotherwiseberequiredtobuildandtestauniqueprototype.Engineerscanstepthroughthe
simulationmillisecondsatatimetodeterminetheexactstressesbeingputuponeachsectionofthe
prototype.[11]
Computergraphicscanbeusedtodisplaytheresultsofacomputersimulation.Animationscanbeusedto
experienceasimulationinrealtime,e.g.,intrainingsimulations.Insomecasesanimationsmayalsobe
usefulinfasterthanrealtimeorevenslowerthanrealtimemodes.Forexample,fasterthanrealtime
animationscanbeusefulinvisualizingthebuildupofqueuesinthesimulationofhumansevacuatinga
building.Furthermore,simulationresultsareoftenaggregatedintostaticimagesusingvariouswaysof
scientificvisualization.
Indebugging,simulatingaprogramexecutionundertest(ratherthanexecutingnatively)candetectfar
moreerrorsthanthehardwareitselfcandetectand,atthesametime,logusefuldebugginginformationsuch
asinstructiontrace,memoryalterationsandinstructioncounts.Thistechniquecanalsodetectbuffer
overflowandsimilar"hardtodetect"errorsaswellasproduceperformanceinformationandtuningdata.

Pitfalls
Althoughsometimesignoredincomputersimulations,itisveryimportanttoperformasensitivityanalysis
toensurethattheaccuracyoftheresultsisproperlyunderstood.Forexample,theprobabilisticriskanalysis
offactorsdeterminingthesuccessofanoilfieldexplorationprograminvolvescombiningsamplesfroma
varietyofstatisticaldistributionsusingtheMonteCarlomethod.If,forinstance,oneofthekeyparameters
(e.g.,thenetratioofoilbearingstrata)isknowntoonlyonesignificantfigure,thentheresultofthe
simulationmightnotbemoreprecisethanonesignificantfigure,althoughitmight(misleadingly)be
presentedashavingfoursignificantfigures.

Modelcalibrationtechniques
Thefollowingthreestepsshouldbeusedtoproduceaccuratesimulationmodels:calibration,verification,
andvalidation.Computersimulationsaregoodatportrayingandcomparingtheoreticalscenarios,butin
ordertoaccuratelymodelactualcasestudiestheyhavetomatchwhatisactuallyhappeningtoday.Abase
modelshouldbecreatedandcalibratedsothatitmatchestheareabeingstudied.Thecalibratedmodel
shouldthenbeverifiedtoensurethatthemodelisoperatingasexpectedbasedontheinputs.Oncethe
modelhasbeenverified,thefinalstepistovalidatethemodelbycomparingtheoutputstohistoricaldata
fromthestudyarea.ThiscanbedonebyusingstatisticaltechniquesandensuringanadequateRsquared
value.Unlessthesetechniquesareemployed,thesimulationmodelcreatedwillproduceinaccurateresults
andnotbeausefulpredictiontool.
Modelcalibrationisachievedbyadjustinganyavailableparametersinordertoadjusthowthemodel
operatesandsimulatestheprocess.Forexample,intrafficsimulation,typicalparametersincludelook
aheaddistance,carfollowingsensitivity,dischargeheadway,andstartuplosttime.Theseparameters

influencedriverbehaviorsuchaswhenandhowlongittakesadrivertochangelanes,howmuchdistancea
driverleavesbetweenhiscarandthecarinfrontofit,andhowquicklyadriverstartstoacceleratethrough
anintersection.Adjustingtheseparametershasadirecteffectontheamountoftrafficvolumethatcan
traversethroughthemodeledroadwaynetworkbymakingthedriversmoreorlessaggressive.Theseare
examplesofcalibrationparametersthatcanbefinetunedtomatchcharacteristicsobservedinthefieldat
thestudylocation.Mosttrafficmodelshavetypicaldefaultvaluesbuttheymayneedtobeadjustedto
bettermatchthedriverbehavioratthespecificlocationbeingstudied.
Modelverificationisachievedbyobtainingoutputdatafromthemodelandcomparingthemtowhatis
expectedfromtheinputdata.Forexample,intrafficsimulation,trafficvolumecanbeverifiedtoensure
thatactualvolumethroughputinthemodelisreasonablyclosetotrafficvolumesinputintothemodel.Ten
percentisatypicalthresholdusedintrafficsimulationtodetermineifoutputvolumesarereasonablyclose
toinputvolumes.Simulationmodelshandlemodelinputsindifferentwayssotrafficthatentersthe
network,forexample,mayormaynotreachitsdesireddestination.Additionally,trafficthatwantstoenter
thenetworkmaynotbeableto,ifcongestionexists.Thisiswhymodelverificationisaveryimportantpart
ofthemodelingprocess.
Thefinalstepistovalidatethemodelbycomparingtheresultswithwhatisexpectedbasedonhistorical
datafromthestudyarea.Ideally,themodelshouldproducesimilarresultstowhathashappened
historically.ThisistypicallyverifiedbynothingmorethanquotingtheRsquaredstatisticfromthefit.This
statisticmeasuresthefractionofvariabilitythatisaccountedforbythemodel.AhighRsquaredvaluedoes
notnecessarilymeanthemodelfitsthedatawell.Anothertoolusedtovalidatemodelsisgraphicalresidual
analysis.Ifmodeloutputvaluesdrasticallydifferfromhistoricalvalues,itprobablymeansthereisanerror
inthemodel.Beforeusingthemodelasabasetoproduceadditionalmodels,itisimportanttoverifyitfor
differentscenariostoensurethateachoneisaccurate.Iftheoutputsdonotreasonablymatchhistoricvalues
duringthevalidationprocess,themodelshouldbereviewedandupdatedtoproduceresultsmoreinline
withexpectations.Itisaniterativeprocessthathelpstoproducemorerealisticmodels.
Validatingtrafficsimulationmodelsrequirescomparingtrafficestimatedbythemodeltoobservedtraffic
ontheroadwayandtransitsystems.Initialcomparisonsarefortripinterchangesbetweenquadrants,sectors,
orotherlargeareasofinterest.Thenextstepistocomparetrafficestimatedbythemodelstotrafficcounts,
includingtransitridership,crossingcontrivedbarriersinthestudyarea.Thesearetypicallycalled
screenlines,cutlines,andcordonlinesandmaybeimaginaryoractualphysicalbarriers.Cordonlines
surroundparticularareassuchasacity'scentralbusinessdistrictorothermajoractivitycenters.Transit
ridershipestimatesarecommonlyvalidatedbycomparingthemtoactualpatronagecrossingcordonlines
aroundthecentralbusinessdistrict.
Threesourcesoferrorcancauseweakcorrelationduringcalibration:inputerror,modelerror,and
parametererror.Ingeneral,inputerrorandparametererrorcanbeadjustedeasilybytheuser.Modelerror
howeveriscausedbythemethodologyusedinthemodelandmaynotbeaseasytofix.Simulationmodels
aretypicallybuiltusingseveraldifferentmodelingtheoriesthatcanproduceconflictingresults.Some
modelsaremoregeneralizedwhileothersaremoredetailed.Ifmodelerroroccursasaresult,inmaybe
necessarytoadjustthemodelmethodologytomakeresultsmoreconsistent.
Inordertoproducegoodmodelsthatcanbeusedtoproducerealisticresults,thesearethenecessarysteps
thatneedtobetakeninordertoensurethatsimulationmodelsarefunctioningproperly.Simulationmodels
canbeusedasatooltoverifyengineeringtheories,buttheyareonlyvalidifcalibratedproperly.Once
satisfactoryestimatesoftheparametersforallmodelshavebeenobtained,themodelsmustbecheckedto
assurethattheyadequatelyperformtheintendedfunctions.Thevalidationprocessestablishesthe

credibilityofthemodelbydemonstratingitsabilitytoreplicateactualtrafficpatterns.Theimportanceof
modelvalidationunderscorestheneedforcarefulplanning,thoroughnessandaccuracyoftheinputdata
collectionprogramthathasthispurpose.Effortsshouldbemadetoensurecollecteddataisconsistentwith
expectedvalues.Forexample,intrafficanalysisitistypicalforatrafficengineertoperformasitevisitto
verifytrafficcountsandbecomefamiliarwithtrafficpatternsinthearea.Theresultingmodelsand
forecastswillbenobetterthanthedatausedformodelestimationandvalidation.

Seealso
Computerexperiment
Emergence
Emulator
Energymodeling
Insilico
Greyboxcompletionandvalidation
Meshfreemethods
Molecularmechanics
Proceduralanimation
Stencilcode
Virtualprototyping
Webbasedsimulation
WenHoLee,ascientistwhocreatedsimulationsofnuclearexplosionsforthepurposesofscientific
inquiry

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