ANSYS INC. Canonsburg, Pennsylvania; It Finds Genuine Success In Simulated Tests.(THE NEW AMERICA)

Byline: ALAN R. ELLIOTT

Crash test dummies -- be on your guard. Our age of whirring innovation could mean the end of the road for engineering props such as wind tunnels, water tunnels and vehicle crash test facilities.

They're being replaced by virtual tests conducted on computer screens. Ansys Inc. is among a group of software makers whose simulation programs aim to cut time, labor and development costs in the building and testing of prototypes.

The better those programs become, the fewer mannequins will buckle into intentionally doomed cars.

"Instead of going out and running 100 or 150 cars into a wall to see how they respond, now you maybe only have to do 10," said analyst Mark Schappel of KeyBank Capital Markets.

It sounds like a lot less fun, but the cost savings can be substantial. As a result, automobile, aerospace, electronics and a seemingly endless litany of other industries have begun edging toward digital simulation.

"Almost any company name you can think of is (an Ansys) user," said Ansys Chief Executive James Cashman.