A computational mechanics special issue on: data-driven modeling and simulation--theory, methods, and applications

There are more than a trillion sensors in the world today and according to some estimates there will be about 50 trillion cameras worldwide within the next 5 years, all collecting data either sporadically or around the clock. With such explosive growth of available data and computing resources, recent advances in machine learning and data analytics have yielded transformative results across diverse scientific disciplines, including image recognition, natural language processing, cognitive science, and genomics. However, in many engineering applications, quality and error-free data is not easy to obtain, e.g., for system dynamics characterized by bifurcations and instabilities, hysteresis, delayed responses, and often irreversible responses. Admittedly, as in all everyday applications, in engineering problems, the volume of data has increased substantially compared to even a decade ago but analyzing big data is expensive and time-consuming. Data-driven methods, which have been enabled in the past decade by the availability of sensors, data storage, and computational resources, are taking center stage across many disciplines (physical and information) of science.