Simulation and modeling - Old Questions

There are two general approaches that can be used to remove the initial bias:

1. The system can be started in more representative states rather than in the empty state.

2. The first part of the simulation run can be ignored.

In the first approach, it is necessary to know the steady-state distinction for the system and we then select the initial state distinction. In the study of simulation, particularly the existing system, there may be information available on the expected condition which makes it feasible to select a better initial condition and thus eliminating the initial bias.

The second approach that is used to remove the initial bias is the most common approach. In this method, the initial section of the run which has a high bias (simulation) result is eliminated.

First, the run is started from an idle state and stopped after certain period of time (The time at which the bias is satisfactory). The entities existing in the system at that are left as they are and this point is the point of a restart for other repeating simulation runs. Then the run is restarted with statistics being gathered from the point of the restart.