A graph showing simulations, with size on the x axis and time on the y. Atom simulations are in the bottom left, then continuum, then experiments.
In the multiscale modeling approach, researchers use atom-level simulations, then take the parameters they find and apply them to larger-scale simulations, and then compare their results with experimental results. If the results don’t match, they go back to the atomic scale to study missing mechanisms. Sophie Blondel/UT Knoxville, adapted from https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2011.37
all this modeling work happening on computers is then compared with experimental results obtained in laboratories.

For example, if one side of the material has hydrogen gas, we want to know how much hydrogen leaks to the other side of the material. If the model and the experimental results match, we can have confidence in the model and use it to predict the behavior of the same material under the conditions we would expect in a fusion device.