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 thick-ness.
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