Basically, simulation can be seen as the ‘execution’ of a model. Functional
simulation and animation are useful to illustrate the dynamic behaviour of a system.
The aim of functional simulation is to gain insight into the properties and behaviour
of an architecture. Architects can ‘play’ with the architecture and see how it works,
feels, looks, can be adapted to certain changes, etc. Moreover, functional simulation
can also play an important role in the communication between stakeholders, by
giving them a better common understanding of the architecture.