A Formal Development of Event Graphs as an Aid to Structured and Efficient Simulation Programs

Schruben introduced event graphs as a graphical technique for visualizing event-oriented system structures. In this paper, a formal framework for event-oriented simulation is introduced and event graphs are examined using this framework. Comprehensive rules are presented for identifying situations where event execution order priorities may be necessary. The concept of expanded event graphs and super events are introduced. A procedure for generating expanded event graphs which show hierarchy and possible grouping of events as one single unit without violating predefined execution order priorities is described. Expanded event graphs generated by this procedure can be used as bases for structured and efficient simulation programs.

INFORMS Journal on Computing, ISSN 1091-9856, was published as ORSA Journal on Computing from 1989 to 1995 under ISSN 0899-1499.