The long-term goal of the DSC is to develop a simulation environment that can be used under realistic conditions to evaluate proposed operational processes and the associated decision-making. This virtual simulator is based on an industry-leading training simulator that was originally optimised for training pipe handling and well control situations.

By using an application programme interface (API), the factory-implemented models can be replaced by simulation models developed and evaluated at the DSC. Numerous numerical models for solids transport, fluid thermodynamics, fluid compressibility or drill string stiffness already exist, but have not yet been implemented in a simulator.

The (further) development of such models is a central focus of research work at the DSC. In addition to the internally developed models, the software simulator platform can also run algorithms and software from third-party providers.