Application of sensitivity analysis – preliminary step of the process parameters estimation

Abstract

Simulation of any physical process requires definition of the physical model, method – analytical or numerical, to solve the set of equations describing the physical model and the parameters expressing the body properties and boundary conditions. This paper focus on two latter aspects of the numerical simulation process. Precise determination of the model quantities are crucial for high quality of the model predictions and accurate reflection of real system. Determination of the process parameters is defined as an inverse problem. Following this the sensitivity analysis is applied as the preliminary step of the inverse analysis to reduce the number of model evaluations and to increase the inverse calculations robustness and efficiency. Sensitivity analysis techniques show how "sensitive" is a model to its input parameters variations and to changes of the model structure. As the example the sensitivity analysis was applied to the 2D DC borehole resistivity measurements simulation problem solved with hp-Finite Element Method.