Summary

Much of what engineers and scientists do is modeling natural phenomena, by developing mathematical models of nature they can study and predict the behaviour of physical systems. The remarkable advances in technology over the last half century attest to the success of this approach. However, there has been growing concern about the issue of reliability in computational modeling in recent years. The success of computational modeling in certain classes of linear problems may have lulled many into a false sense of confidence in computed results. The papers in this volume discuss topics such as: Exactly how reliable are contemporary computational modeling procedures? How can this reliability be assessed? What factors affect it? How can reliability be improved? What direction must future research in computational modeling take to increase reliability of the more sophisticated models needed to simulate phenomena of importance in engineering? The work covers the application of existing methods to issues of reliability as well as studies of new methods that touch upon or depend upon the reliability of computational techniques in mechanics.