Open AccessAutomated continuous verification for numerical simulation
Author(s) -
Patrick E. Farrell,
Matthew D. Piggott,
Gerard J. Gorman,
David A. Ham,
C. R. Wilson,
Tamzin Bond
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
geoscientific model development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.238
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1991-9603
pISSN - 1991-959X
DOI - 10.5194/gmd-4-435-2011
Subject(s) - computer science , discretization , software verification , automation , functional verification , process (computing) , verification , code (set theory) , event (particle physics) , runtime verification , verification and validation , software , continuous modelling , software engineering , development (topology) , formal verification , range (aeronautics) , programming language , software development , software construction , engineering , set (abstract data type) , mathematics , mechanical engineering , mathematical analysis , physics , quantum mechanics , aerospace engineering , operations management
Verification is a process crucially important for the final users of a computational model: code is useless if its results cannot be relied upon. Typically, verification is seen as a discrete event, performed once and for all after development is complete. However, this does not reflect the reality that many geoscientific codes undergo continuous development of the mathematical model, discretisation and software implementation. Therefore, we advocate that in such cases verification must be continuous and happen in parallel with development: the desirability of their automation follows immediately. This paper discusses a framework for automated continuous verification of wide applicability to any kind of numerical simulation. It also documents a range of test cases to show the possibilities of the framework