What is Scientific Research

This chapter is a review of the literature related to the use of cloud-based computer simulations in scientific research. The authors examine the types and good examples of cloud-based computer simulations, offering suggestions for the architecture, frameworks, and runtime infrastructures that support running simulations in cloud environment. Cloud computing has become the standard for providing hardware and software infrastructure. Using the possibilities offered by cloud computing platforms, researchers can efficiently use the already existing IT resources in solving computationally intensive scientific problems. Further on, the authors emphasize the possibilities of using the existing and already known simulation models and tools in the cloud computing environment. The cloud environment provides possibilities to execute all kinds of simulation experiments as in traditional environments. This way, models are accessible to a wider range of researchers and the analysis of data resulting from simulation experiments is significantly improved.