The simulation ofdissipative particle dynamics (DPD) is a new mesoscale numericsimulation technique. DPD is one of the most important methods forthe study mesoscopic structure of complex systems, and is also oneof important methods linking macroscale with microscalesimulation. The present paper first reviews the development ofDPD, and then elaborates the methodology of DPD, includingtheoretical model, numeric integration methods, selection ofparameters and mapping the simulatied system to the real one.Thirdly, the applications of DPD to the simulation of complexfluid systems are presented, involving assembly of multiphaseflow, separation of microphase, distortion and crash of drops,flows in microchannel and so on. Finally, the current problems andfuture trends are discussed.