Section: Scientific Foundations

Mathematical modelling

What are the relevant physical or biological variables, what are the possible dominant effects ruling their dynamics, how to analyse the information coming out from a mathematical model and interpret them in the real situations under consideration ? These are the questions leading to select a mathematical model, generally also to couple several of them in order to render all physical or biomedical features which are selected by specialist partners (engineers, physicists, medical doctors). These are usually based on Navier-Stokes system for fluids (as in free surface fluid flows), on parabolic-hyperbolic equations (Saint-Venant system for shallow water, flows of electrons/holes in semiconductors, Keller-Segel model of chemotaxis).