Uncertainty quantification is a new paradigm in industrial 
analysis and design as it aims at taking into account the 
presence of numerous uncertainties affecting the behavior 
of physical systems. Dominating uncertainties can be either 
be operational (such as boundary conditions) and/or 
geometrical resulting from unknown properties, such as tip 
clearances of rotating compressor blades or from 
manufacturing tolerances.

Whether bringing a new product from conception into 
production or operating complex plant and production 
processes, commercial success rests on careful management 
and control of risk in the face of many interacting 
uncertainties. For example a new aircraft or aero-engine 
must be designed and engineered within a given time frame 
and budget to meet a given set of performance requirements, 
and then manufactured at unit cost and rates that meet an 
overall business plan. Today’s fiercely competitive market 
and increasingly stringent regulatory environment is such 
that there is very little margin of error. Failure to 
appreciate, understand and appropriately manage risks 
inevitably results in severe financial penalties, and even 
irrevocable damage to reputation.

Historically, chief engineers and project managers have 
estimated and managed risk using mostly human judgment 
founded upon years of experience and heritage. As the 21st 
century begins to unfold, the design and engineering of 
products as well as the control of plant and process are 
increasingly relying on computer models and simulation. 
This era of virtual design and engineering opens the 
opportunity to deal with uncertainty in a systematic formal 
way by which sensitivities to various uncertainties can be 
quantified and understood, and designs and processes 
optimized so as to be robust against such uncertainties. 
Human judgment will always play an important role, but 
leading companies in many fields of engineering are 
increasingly aware of these possibilities and uncertainty 
quantification is beginning to feature strongly in their 
strategic aspirations. Thus this is a very opportune moment 
to introduce a two- day awareness course on this emerging 
topic. 

The aim is to share the aspirations and requirements of 
leading companies in the fields of aerospace, energy, 
transport and chemical process; review emerging methods and 
techniques and how these are being deployed; and define the 
current state-of-the-art and map out-near term future 
possibilities