An evaluation of a protocol for the validation of computational solid mechanics models

The terminology of validation of computational models and the framework within which it should be performed has been well-defined in a series of standards documents developed in the United States. However, there is no universally accepted protocol for performing validation, although a number of approaches have been proposed. The objective of the reported study was to assess the effectiveness and usefulness of a recently published approach that provides an efficient method for comparing data fields from the simulations and experiments, and which incorporates the uncertainty arising in the experimental data in the assessment of the model validity. An international comparison exercise was designed based on the standard for Inter-Laboratory Studies. Fifteen organisations participated in the Inter-Laboratory Study and the results demonstrated the efficacy of the validation protocol and provided feedback on a number of issues, including the definition of regions of interest, the need for a measure of the quality of the simulation results and importance of designing experiments specifically for validation exercises. The refined validation protocol has been incorporated into CENWorkshop Agreement CWA 16799: 2014.