This paper describes a preliminary investigation into the use of normal form theory for modelling large non-linear dynamical systems. Limit cycle oscillations are determined for simple two-degree-of-freedom double pendulum systems. The double pendulum system is reduced into its centre manifold before computing normal forms. Normal forms are obtained using a period averaging method which is appl...

In Seppelt and Richter (2005) we presented and discussed the differences in numerical simulations obtained from different modelling tools applied to a predatoreprey test-system. Based on analytical findings of this highly non-linear Lotkae Volterra-type model, including capacity-limited growth of the prey and density-dependent predation success, we were able to demonstrate that resulting trajec...

Spatial discretisation plays an important role in many numerical environmental models. This paper studies the control of spatial discretisation in coastal oil spill modelling with a view to assure the quality of modelling outputs for given spatial data inputs. Spatial data analysis techniques are effective for investigating and improving the spatial discretisation in different phases of the mod...