| Unit name | Physical and Human Systems Modelling 3 |
|---|---|
| Unit code | CENG30001 |
| Credit points | 10 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Johansson |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
Prior knowledge of MATLAB and the successful completion of appropriate Level 2 Engineering units |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of Civil Engineering |
| Faculty | Faculty of Engineering |
Aims: 1. Learn to use a set of computational methods and to apply them to a wide variety of problems. 2. Understand and model soft human systems embedded in hard engineered systems. 3. Learn how to design computational models in order to solve real world problems, and how to validate these models, and assess their accuracy using empirical data.
The topics covered include: Dynamical systems and modelling of simple mechanical systems, MATLAB programming with a focus on dynamical modelling, Cellular Automata, Agent-Based Modelling, Complex Networks theory, Modelling human behaviour, Validating and calibrating computational models using empirical data.
1. Understand the necessity to assess the efficiency of a built structure, a road network, or other elements of infrastructure, in terms of the humans using these. 2. Know how to use a set of methods to model human mobility, e.g. crowds moving within buildings, and cars driving onto roads. 3. Be able to design and run simple computer simulations of human processes, such as the ones described above. 4. Be aware of the wider applicability of computer modelling of human behaviour, and how this is important to address socio-technical complexity within Civil Engineering projects.
Lectures and computer classes
Group project 100%
Generative Social Science: Studies in Agent-Based Computational Modeling, Joshua M. Epstein (Princeton Studies in Complexity, 2007)
Simulation for the Social Scientist, Nigel Gilbert and Klaus G. Troitzsch (Open University Press; 2 edition, 2005)
Econophysics and Sociophysics: Trends and Perspectives, Bikas K. Chakrabarti, Anirban Chakraborti and Arnab Chatterjee (Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA: Weinheim, Germany, 2006)
