Why Model V&V?
The scientific method of formulating a hypothesis, developing an experiment and collecting information, and reaching a conclusion either in favor of the hypothesis or that contradicts it, has traditionally been based on physical experiments and measurements. Compared to the 4,000+ years of scientific history, science-based predictive Modeling and Simulation (M&S) is recent. Only since the late 1980’s, or for the past twenty years or so, have scientists started to be confident in their ability to understand and model moderately complex phenomena or applications. The consequence is that physical experiments that have traditionally supported the decision-making process in physics and engineering are progressively being replaced by numerical simulations. The availability of increasingly faster, cheaper, and massively parallel computing resources are feeding this trend, together with the development of more powerful computing languages and user-friendly visualization tools. It also goes han
