Coordination of Coupled Black Box Simulations in the Construction of Metamodels

This paper introduces methods to coordinate black box simulations in the construction of metamodels for situations in which we have to deal with coupled black boxes.We de.ne three coordination methods: parallel simulation, sequential simulation and sequential modeling.To compare these three methods we focus on .ve aspects: throughput time, .exibility, simulated product designs, coordination complexityand the use of prior information.Special attention is given to the throughput time aspect.For this aspect we derive mathematical formulas and we give relations between the throughput times of the three coordination methods.At the end of this paper we summarize the results and give recommendations on the choice of a suitable coordination method.