Experiments

Running an Experiment

After you have created and populated the design points in your Experiment window, you are ready to run your simulation model. (You must have identified the active experiment, and it must have at least one valid design point.) You can select one or more design points to automatically run in sequence. You can select a collection of design points either by dragging the pointer over the desired design points or by using the Control or Shift key in combination with clicking to perform standard extended selection of design points. Selected design points are highlighted in the design matrix.

You can start running the selected design points in any of the following ways. You can select the An M/M/1 Queueing Model icon on the toolbar or select Run→Start from the main menu. You can also select the An M/M/1 Queueing Model icon from the toolbar or the Run→Augment from the main menu. (Augment run is discussed in more detail in the following section.)

When the Parallel Mode option on the Run menu is not selected, design points are run in the order in which they appear in the design matrix. The currently running design point is indicated by a red font in the design matrix. You can pause or suspend a simulation run by selecting the An M/M/1 Queueing Model icon on the toolbar or by selecting Run→Pause from the main menu. To restart the simulation execution, simply select the An M/M/1 Queueing Model icon or Run→Start again.

When the Parallel Mode option on the Run menu is selected, different design points and/or replications will be distributed on different cores simultaneously. For more information about the Parallel Mode option, see Chapter 4: Simulation Models.

Consider the following when you run an experiment:

  • It is often useful to display the simulation clock and replication count to monitor the progress of the experiment. Use the options under the Run→Show menu to display these values.

  • Random number streams (substreams) advance with each replication of a design point but reset when moving on to the next design point.

  • Messages can be written to the Log window while the simulation is running. Messages with a SEVERE level are displayed on the GUI in addition to being written to the log.