Modelling Support System for System Dynamics : System Dynamics of Maritime Industries

Abstract

A modelling support system for system dynamics is designed by organizing the knowledge structures of generic patternized expectations and the rules on how to construct system dynamics models. The system is a production-rule-oriented consultation system written in PROLOG. The proposed system covers the system conceptualization and the model representation and the model representation. Brief executing processes of the proposed system are: i) Extracting concepts in a system by perceiving action/decision making and by inferring the causal relations. ii) Preparing a causal-loop diagram of the system by interconnecting the causal relations. iii) Transforming the causal-loop diagram into a flow-diagram. iv) Generating a simulation program. In order to facilitate the future modelling work, the proposed system has a knowledge base of facts acquired in systems modelling. A system dynamics model for maritime industries is presented using the proposed system, and structural issues involved in them are examined.