Add to ORKGIn this paper we argue for the existence of analogue simulation as a novel form of scientific inference with the potential to be confirmatory. This notion is distinct from the modes of analogical reasoning detailed in the literature, and draws inspi-ration from fluid dynamical ‘dumb hole ’ analogues to gravitational black holes. For that case, which is considered in detail, we defend the claim that the phenom-ena of gravitational Hawking radiation could be confirmed in the case that its counterpart is detected within experiments conducted on diverse realisations of the analogue model. A prospectus is given for further potential cases of analogu