Course content

System dynamics is a methodology for understanding, modeling, and simulating complex systems, typically aimed at addressing complex problems with interdependent factors, feedback loops, and time delays. Developed by Jay W. Forrester in the late 1950s at the MIT Sloan School of Management, system dynamics uses differential equations to capture and simulate the behavior of systems over time, allowing for the examination of interactions between components within economic, environmental, and organizational systems.

System dynamics is widely known for its application in fields such as business management, environmental studies, and public policy. Models are often built with stock and flow diagrams and causal loop diagrams, which help in identifying feedback structures within systems.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

The course shall provide students with an in depth introduction to systems dynamics. They will learn how to design systemic digital twins of complex technical and socio-technical systems and put this knowledge in practice by designing a variety of models.

Skills:

The students shall be able to design a model, use advanced assessment techniques to assess this model and to extract relevant information from the assessment.

General competence:

The course shall familiarize students with system dynamics techniques that can be used in a wide range of engineering and scientific domains. The course shall be help them to select the suitable modeling framework when they will face an engineering problem in their professional lives, whether in industry or in academia.

Learning methods and activities

Lectures will present system dynamics concepts and modeling techniques. Each important topics will be introduced by means of a use case. Exercises will be made collectively during the lectures. Series of training exercises will be provided to students for the tutorials. The lectures and collective work are in English. Students are free to choose Norwegian or English for written exercises and the report.

Recommended previous knowledge

Some experience in modeling and programming would be a plus.

Course materials

Donella H. Meadows, Jorgen Randers and Dennis L. Meadows. Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update. Chelsea Green Publishing. ISBN 978-1931498586. 2004.

John D. Sterman. Business Dynamics: Systems thinking and modeling for a complex world. McGraw Hill. New York, NY, USA. ISBN 978-0-07-231135-8. 2000.

Antoine Rauzy. This Sigma Book. A pdf version of this book will be available on author's webpage.