Читать книгу Numerical Simulation, An Art of Prediction, Volume 2 - Jean-François Sigrist - Страница 11

Introduction
A Technology at the Service of Humans

In this second volume, we continue our discovery of numerical simulation technology, understood in a broad sense as a tool for carrying out virtual experiments. In the first volume, we have shown how the idea of representing a given entity in an abstract way is realized: a model made up of equations and/or data allows us to predict its evolution or behavior in different situations. Taking the example of mechanics in general, we first discussed various possible uses of simulation in the industrial sector and recalled its strategic nature. We then extended our presentation to other applications that require or perform simulations, such as artificial intelligence, which aims to simulate, in the sense of reproducing, certain human cognitive abilities. We concluded the presentation by questioning the meaning that numerical simulation can take and the techniques it helps to develop or whose advances it incorporates.

The objective of this second volume is to provide some concrete answers to these questions by illustrating different fields of application of numerical modeling. Without claiming to be exhaustive in any way, we thus propose an overview of some of its uses in agriculture, the shipbuilding and aeronautics industry, earth and universe sciences, meteorology and climatology, energies, the human body and finally, we discuss the use of models covering certain activities of individuals, alone or in communities.

This second volume, consisting of seven chapters, presents various contributions from researchers and engineers working in French laboratories, centers of expertise or industrial groups using numerical modeling to support their research and/or design work. Please note that any uncited quotations are taken from personal interwiews. We choose examples in these areas by showing how these digital techniques benefit humans, without avoiding the question of their use for other purposes.

Faced with the difficulty of drawing clear boundaries between knowledge and skills, and between techniques, we have chosen to emphasize, with the variety of examples proposed, the links they maintain and the way in which digital technology contributes to changing scientific practices.