Verification & Validation of the Codes
MetroVolt’s codes are verified for correctness and validated against known data — the standard that lets a design point be trusted as a prediction.
Two different questions
Verification asks: are we solving the equations right? Validation asks: are we solving the right equations — do they match reality? Both are needed. A code can be perfectly verified and still wrong about the world, or physically reasonable but numerically broken.
MetroVolt’s design point is produced by codes held to reproducibility: the same inputs and code produce the same outputs on a clean machine, with a documented environment. That is the floor for verification. Validation compares model outputs against known tandem-mirror and plasma data where it exists.
Where validation is thin
Validation is strongest where relevant experimental data exists and weakest exactly at the burner’s novel physics — plug confinement at feasible β and direct energy conversion at scale. Those thin areas are the honest gates, and the reason the design is not treated as settled.
- Verification: reproducible, documented, correctness-checked.
- Validation: strong where data exists, thin at novel physics.
- Gaps map exactly onto the open items and the test-unit plan.