Quantitative validation techniques a database. (I). Simple examples

This paper proposes the formulation of a database of validation examples. This initial contribution describes the problem of validation of the simulation of two real systems. These include a mechanical network and a thermal system with a transport delay. Data of the component values and measurements are reported here. The data from testing these systems will be made available at a later stage to enable other workers to compare other validation techniques with those presented here. The responses of a mechanical and a thermal system were measured with a laptop PC and Labview via a DAQCard(TM)-700 data acquisition card. Simulations were made with ACSL and ACSL Math. The validation procedures implemented included a parameter variation with integral quadratic weighting and ITAE weighting together with a statistical matching technique using a correlation coefficient. These techniques illustrate the problem of achieving "good" validation to within a few percentage points. Correlation coefficients of over 98% were obtained for the fitting of linear models, with Theil indices of less than 0.075. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.