Building Large, Complex Models

Lesson 5, page 2 of 15

As pointed out in Lesson 2, although some GoldSim models are simple, consisting of 50 elements The basic building blocks with which a GoldSim model is constructed. Each element represents a feature, pararamer, process or event in the model. or less, many GoldSim models have hundreds or even thousands of elements. (In fact, the largest model we are aware of has over 30,000 elements).

To facilitate this, GoldSim provides a number of powerful features that were specifically designed to facilitate the construction, maintenance, and presentation of very large, complex models.

We have already discussed in simple terms how Containers can be used to organize model elements into a hierarchy, providing a powerful tool for creating "top-down" models, in which the level of detail increases as you "push down" into the containment hierarchy.

Containers, however, are able to do much more than simply organize a model. Advanced Container An element that acts like a “box” or a “folder” into which other elements can be placed. It can be used to create hierarchical models. features include the following:

In addition to advanced Container features, GoldSim provides other features for building and maintaining complex models, including: