Agent Based Modeling of large-scale socio-technical metal networks

Metals production and consumption networks are complex Large Scale Socio-Technical Systems, consisting of many technical installations, companies operating them, at a global scale, with large environmental impacts. Understanding their dynamics and behavior requires models that are capable of capturing technical, social, economic and other dimensions. Modeling in the metals domain has traditionally focused on technical and metallurgical aspects. Agent Based Modeling (ABM), a relatively new technique in the metals domain, is a tool from the Complex Adaptive Systems field that allows investigation of the change of metals production and consumption networks structure, as they evolve towards a more sustainable state. This paper presents two examples of ABMs of metals networks that illustrate how the modeling technique can be used and the types of insights it offers.