Dear Julian (if I may), Many thanks for this. Harry F Olson, Dynamical Analogies (Van Nostrand, 1943), does not use the word 'simulation' (which is evidence that it was not the obvious term then), but the technique I am after is what he describes for acoustical systems. This is how he begins Chapter 1:
Analogies are useful when it is desired to compare an unfamiliar system with one that is better known. The relations and actions are more easily visualized, the mathematics more readily applied and the analytical solutions more readily obtained in the familiar system. Analogies make it possible to extend the line of reasoning into unexplored fields. A large part of engineering analysis is concerned with vibrating systems. Although not generally so considered, the electrical circuit is the most common example and the most widely exploited vibrating system.
The book is in the Internet Archive. Yours, W -- Willard McCarty (www.mccarty.org.uk/), Professor, Department of Digital Humanities, King's College London, and Digital Humanities Research Group, University of Western Sydney