A hierarchical and object-oriented dynamic modeling and simulation system called Foresee has been developed, which demonstrates some of the key aspects of four sets of modeling components to represent the dynamic modeling and simulation of chemical processes. These fundamental modeling components can be categorized into four types (containments, core models, connectors, and coordinators), each of which describes a different aspect of system behavior. It is in the representation of equipment models that Foresee differs most strongly from all the other simulation systems. In these systems an equipment model consists of a set equations and the associated codes for their execution. In Foresee an equipment model is specified as an interconnected set of modeling components. The basic premise in this approach to modeling is that a relatively small set of modeling components can be used to generate a variety of equipment models, and in turn a lot of higher level models of complex processes can be assembled from the equipment models. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.