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Synthetic design of policy decisions in system dynamics models: A modal control theoretical approach
Author(s) -
Mohapatra Pratap K. J.,
Sharma Sushil K.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
system dynamics review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.491
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1099-1727
pISSN - 0883-7066
DOI - 10.1002/sdr.4260010106
Subject(s) - modal , computer science , control (management) , stability (learning theory) , process (computing) , system dynamics , management science , operations research , control theory (sociology) , industrial engineering , engineering , artificial intelligence , machine learning , polymer chemistry , operating system , chemistry
Researchers and practitioners in system dynamics usually follow a trial‐and‐error process to design new policy decisions. They mainly use influence diagrams for this purpose. However, these diagrams portray the direction of influence but not its strength. Therefore, the process of policy design becomes time‐consuming, especially for beginners and those working with insufficient computer facilities. This paper presents an alternative approach for policy design using modal control theory. Policy variables are treated as control variables by delinking them from other variables. This generally leads to greatly simplified models that are free from many nonlin‐earities. Provided that this reduced system is linear and controllable, it is possible to synthetically generate control policies by modal control theory to ensure any prescribed degree of stability. These theoretical control policies then can be used to design realistic policy decisions. This approach has been used in a test example.