Dimensional Analysis
What is Dimensional Analysis?
Dimensional Analysis is a
technique used in the physical sciences and engineering to reduce
physical properties such as acceleration, viscosity, energy, and others
to their fundamental dimensions of length (L), mass (M), and time (T).
This technique facilitates the study of interrelationships of systems
(or models of systems) and their properties and avoids the nuisance of
incompatible units. Acceleration, for example, is expressed as L/T in
dimensional analysis because it is a distance (L, length) per unit of
time (T) squared; whether the actual units of length are expressed in
the English or metric system is immaterial. Dimensional analysis is
often the basis of mathematical models of real situations. If model
results are to be translatable in terms of the system being modeled,
then the model must be dimensionally faithful to the original.
[Encyclopedia Britannica]
Publications.
I am interested in using Dimensional Analysis (DA) in Operations
Research and in using the technique in a preliminary phase in data
analysis to set up dimensionless variables to be used in
regression.
- G A Vignaux, Some Examples of
Dimensional Analysis in Operations Research and Statistics,
prepared for presentation at 4th
International Workshop on Similarity Methods, STUTTGART,
5./6. NOVEMBER 2001
- G A Vignaux, Dimensional
analysis in Operations Research, New Zealand Operations Research}
Vol. 14 No 1, (1986) 81-92.
- G A Vignaux and Sudha Jain, An Approximate Inventory
Model based on Dimensional Analysis, Asia-Pacific Journal of
Operational Research, vol 5, No 2, 117-123, (1988)
- G A Vignaux, Dimensional
Analysis in Data Modelling, in C R Smith et al (eds),
Maximum Entropy and Bayesian Methods, Seattle 1991, Kluwer
Academic Publishers (1992), pp 121-126.
- G A Vignaux and John L Scott, Simplifying Regression
Models using Dimensional Analysis,
The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Statistics,(May,
1999) pp 31-42.
Other Links on Dimensional Analysis
Last updated on 2001 October 30