Are you studying or helping study phenomena not yet fully understood by mankind? I think BOINC counts.
What else MESSy is everyone using Linux for?
I study the long term (10- to 20-years) behavior of complex repairable systems under various repair models. Drenick's Theorem says the long term availability of a complex repairable system will stabilize at some maximum achievable value in the long run. However, Drenick assumes instantaneous repair and the system will be good-as-new after the repair. Obviously, in the real-world, there is a logistics delay before repair and no system is good-as-new following the repair. Fundamentally, the question we're left with is whether the system availability will stabilize at some maximum achievable value under "real-world" conditions.
By studying the behavior of simulated systems, I try to answer that question. Additionally, I try to determine what factors (e;g., how much life is restored by repair, how long the logistics delay is, etc.) may causally influence the achieved availability. In the end, I attempt to develop polynomial functions that are easy for engineers to use in life-cycle planning.
I have a Python app that I've been hacking together since grad school to simulate these systems. Right now I'm working on MPI support for it. I have a little 5 machine cluster I put together in my basement that should speed up the simulations.