Impact codes for the virtual laboratory

Increases in the power of computer hardware and in engineers` confidence in analytical techniques are subtly changing the relationship between computer simulations and physical experiments. These changes are particularly noticeable in the areas of high-energy and high-velocity events, which range from a boat crashing into a dock, to collapsing air bubbles in water flowing through a turbine, to the detonation of explosives. For a variety of economic and environmental reasons, the amount of destructive testing that can be done in these areas is limited. As a result, engineers are relying more on virtual experiments and less on physical ones to optimize design parameters, such as shape or thickness. They are also using computational simulations to perform a higher order of what-if analyses than was possible in the past. The information that such analyses yield helps engineers better understand the material properties and behaviors that affect designs. When physical tests are conducted, the results are increasingly used to gain insights into those materials and behaviors that aren`t yet well understood. Such insights are often incorporated in next-generation analysis programs, raising engineers` expectations of what virtual experiments can achieve.