The relaxation time heuristic for the initial transient problem in M/M/k queueing systems

The relazation time heuristic is a technique for reducing initialization bias in Monte-Carlo simulation of stationary, infinite-capacity, Markovian queueing systems. It differs from many existing methods in that no preliminary simulation runs are required; it is based on characteristics of the underlying theoretical model. The paper presents results of experiments designed to validate the technique for estimating, with virtually no added cost, the steady-state expected number of customers in M/M/k queueing systems