More on V&V and SQA at LANL for ASC and the NNSA
This previous post mentioned V&V and SQA at Los Alamos National Laboratory ( LANL ) within the framework of the Advanced Simulation & Computing ( ASC ) Program for the National Nuclear Security Administration ( NNSA )
Verification and Validation of scientific and engineering software seems to have become a very important part of scientific and engineering software at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
This section:
Typical Questions That V&V Can Answer…
Has this entry:
• “Models can be validated without data.”
Wrong! There is no validation without data because model validation must assess prediction accuracy relative to a physical reality. While code verification and calculation verification are concerned with the accuracy of the numerical implementation and convergence, respectively, validation activities focus on the adequacy of numerical simulations when applied to the description of reality, which requires experimental observations. We nevertheless recognize that the lack of test data can pose serious problems to model validation. Rigorously controlled expert elicitation techniques can provide information that is substituted to experimental testing in cases of severe lack of data and uncertainty.
Code-to-code comparisons are not Validation. Never have been, never will be.
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