Excerpt from Requirements and Procedures for Firefighter Candidates
Tracy Wilson

5) In these events, you wear a 50-pound vest to simulate the weight of self-contained breathing apparatus and firefighter protective clothing. An additional 25 pounds, using two 12.5 pound weights that simulate a high-rise pack (hose bundle), is added to your shoulders for the stair-climb event.
Use context clues and other reading strategies to determine or clarify the meaning of the word simulate as it is used in the fifth section of the passage.

A) to mimic or imitate somebody or something
B) to feign or pretend to experience something
C) a computer model simulating the process of continental drift
D) to reproduce the essential features of something, e. g. as an aid to study or training