Non Deterministic Approaches

LMS International is a Belgian company, active in the fields of noise, vibration and durability. It provides software solutions and engineering services related to experimental as well as numerical problem analysis, simulation and solution design. LMS is a leading provider of testing systems and CAE software for functional performance engineering in mechanical product development. The LMS testing systems and simulation software enable their customers to improve their design for engineering attributes like motion, ride & handling, structural integrity, vibration, acoustics and fatigue lifetime. Widely spread LMS software products include CADA-X, SYSNOISE, Gateway, SEADS, OPTIMUS, Raynoise, Test.Lab^TM and Virtual.Lab^TM. Industrial sectors where the LMS products are sold are the automotive, aerospace, production, consumer and process industries. Currently, LMS employs about 650 people worldwide (300 at the HQ and R&D centre in Leuven (B)) with 23 offices worldwide, with a turnover in the order of 95 ME/year. LMS is involved in the area of experimental, numerical and hybrid (mixed experimental-numerical) system modelling for noise, vibration, durability and dynamics since many years.

Newcastle University - Earth Systems Engineering
Prof Jim Hall

Our research is focussed on developing new methods for analysing and managing risks in civil engineering and environmental systems. Research interest lie in the following five areas:

1. Uncertainty representation in modelling and risk analysis of engineering systems. Random set and imprecise probability theories. Sensitivity analysis and model calibration.
2. Decision support tools for infrastructure systems. Decision analysis. Info-gap theory. Decision support for futures and scenarios analysis.
3. Flood risk analysis and management. Reliability analysis of flood defence systems. Stochastic deterioration models. Advanced sampling based methods. Broad scale flood risk analysis.
4. Coastal cliff recession prediction and appraisal. Simplified process-based modelling of coastal system evolution over extended time and space scales. Stochastic simulation of coastal cliff recession. Use of probabilistic information in coastal management.
5. Impacts of climate change on infrastructure systems. Engineering adaptation to global change. Climate impacts, adaptation and mitigation in urban areas. Impacts of climate change on flood and coastal risks.

Recent publications

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

Prof. Yakov Ben-Haim - Yitzhak Moda'i Chair in Technology and Economics

Outline of Info-Gap Theory and Its Applications

Planning and design in engineering, biological conservation, medicine, management, homeland security, economics and other fields is based on models which are wrong in ways we sometimes cannot even imagine. In addition, our data may lack evidence about surprises - catastrophes as well as windfalls - which impact the success and survival of the system. These model- and data-deficiencies are information-gaps or epistemic limitations. Info-gap uncertainty is an incomplete understanding of the system being managed. This is a broader conception of uncertainty than is usually handled by probability. Info-gap theory provides decision-making tools for modelling and managing severe uncertainty.

Noise and Vibration Research Group - Fuzzy Finite Element Method
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Leuven, Belgium

In 1996, research on fuzzy finite element modelling was initiated within the Noise and Vibration Research group at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the K.U.Leuven (Belgium). The research is devoted to the development of analysis techniques that enable the incorporation of uncertain model properties in early stage numerical design assessment procedures. The focus of the research is on the application of the fuzzy concept for the representation of non-determinism in finite element modelling. On the one hand, this includes the extension of the numerical analysis procedures as used for the classical finite element approach to the arithmetical framework of fuzzy numbers, focusing both on applicability and computational efficiency. On the other hand, specific attention goes to the practical use and possible added value of this approach in the context of design engineering, covering topics as model validation, design optimality and design robustness.