Large simulation model best practices

[arunTTT2P]

[ FlexSim 16.0.1 ]

I need information regarding best practices in building a large simulation model. In other words, best practices to build a RAM optimized simulation model.

[Ben_WilsonADSK · Accepted solution]

There was this post along the same topic in the FlexSim blog:

https://www.flexsim.com/lessons-from-a-massive-model/

Some other memory-related considerations:

• combine flowitems using join rather than pack whenever possible (minimizes number of flowitems)
• create flowitems only when they are needed and destroy them as soon as possible (minimizes number of flowitems)
• if flowitems do need to persist (or data related to flowitems), consider abstracting flowitems into rows of a bundle and only spawn "physical" 3D flowitems when needed

Other tricks for limiting RAM usage will be more on a case by case basis, depending on what your modeling, the approach you take, the inputs driving the model, and the required outputs.

But in general, a massive number of flowitems is usually where models can become unwieldy. The suggestions above could help.

[nmzenke]

@Ben Wilson

Is there an way to track the number of flowitems that are currently in play within a model over the course of a simulation run? Is that information stored in some variable? If so, I can write that value to a tracked variable every so often and plot that over time.

[Ben_WilsonADSK]

Hi @Noah Zenker,

For new questions, please post them as new questions. This thread already has a marked answer.

Please also see the best practices for using this Answers site to better understand the nature of a Question & Answer site, which differs from an old-school forum in regards to having a top question, answers to said question, and related comments.

See points 14 and 15 in particular for tips on the right place to ask a new question.

Thanks!