Advantages of Simulation

Introduction

A simulation is the manipulation of the model in such a way that it operates on time or space to compress it thus enabling one to perceive the interaction that would not otherwise be apparent because of their operation in time or space. It is a concept for developing a level of understanding of the interaction of the parts of the system and of the system as a whole.

Simulation is a powerful technique for solving wide variety of problems. Simulation in general is to pretend that one deals with a real thing while really working with an imitation. Simulation can be done by hand or on a computer. The term simulation is generally used to describe any procedure of establishing a model and deriving a solution numerically.

Some definition of simulation:

1.       Simulation is a representation of reality through the use of a model which will react in the same manner as reality under the given set of conditions.

2.       Simulation is a numerical technique for conducting experiment on a digital computer which involves certain types of mathematical and logical relationship necessary to describe the behavior and the structure of a complex real world system over extended period of time.

3.       Simulation may be defined as one which depicts the working of large scale system of men, machines, materials and information operating over a period of time in a simulated environment of the actual real world conditions.

Following are the advantages of simulation 

1.       New policies, operating procedures, decision rules, information flows, and organizational procedures and so on can be explored without disrupting ongoing operations on the real system.

2.       New hardware designs, physical layouts, transportation system and so on, can be tested without committing resources to their acquisition.

3.       Hypothesis about how or why certain phenomena occur can be tested for feasibility.

4.       Time can be compressed or expanded allowing for a speedup or slowdown of the phenomena under investigation.

5.       Insight can be obtained about the importance of variables to the performance of the system.

6.       Bottleneck analysis can be performed.

7.       Insight can be obtained about the interaction of variables.

8.       A simulation study can help in understanding how the system operates rather than how individual thing the system operates.

9.       “what-if” questions can be answered. This is particularly useful in designs of new systems.

Limitation of the simulation technique.

1.       Model building requires special training. It is an art that is learned over time and through experience. Furthermore, if two models are constructed by two competent individuals, they may have similarities, but it is highly unlikely that they will be the same.

2.       Simulation results may be difficult to interpret. Since most simulation outputs are essentially random variables (they are usually based on random inputs, it may be hard to determine whether an observation is a result of system interrelationships or randomness.

3.       Simulation modeling and analysis can be time consuming and expensive

4.       Simulation is used in some cases when an analytical solution is possible.