Computer Simulation

by www.big-data.tips · Published June 4, 2017 · Updated June 4, 2017

Computer simulation is an important technique in modern science as well as engineering and creates big data due to the use of massive amounts of parallel computing power. They are typically based on known physical laws and numerical methods thus performing studies based on computer models that help the analysis of a particular topic. As a consequence they are also often called numerical simulations or scientific simulations. A common theme in these simulations is often the forecast of the behavior of a particular system model under investigation in conditions that are not reproducible in physical experiments because they are too costly, too dangerous, or simply impossible. More recently the simulations getting a better resolution of the space they simulate that in turn creates large simulation output files that needs to be often analyzed with statistical methods to validate the model outputs.

One example of those simulations are car crash simulations and accidental scenarios. Those physical experiments would be theoretically possible but at a very high cost. Another example is the simulation of investigation of burning trains in order to find out what would be the best materials to use in the constructions of trains most safest for passengers. In order to improve the understanding of a computer simulation is can be useful to analyze them via sensitivity analysis or uncertainty analysis. A well known application of a computer simulation is numerical weather prediction (NWR) that is providing input to the weather forecast we know from daily use. Another well known application field is earthquake simulation in order to investigate the possible impact of earthquakes to the environment and society.