Interactive analysis of cavity-flows in a virtual environment

Abstract

Multiple everyday life situations involve cavity flows. Because of its unstable aspect, this phenomenon represents an issue of the utmost seriousness for physicists. This paper describes the design of a system dedicated to interactive analysis of results of CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulations. This approach aims at assisting expert users in their analysis in a virtual immersive environment. The proposed solution counts two main steps. In the first one, while moving a 3D cursor, the user explores the space of the simulation in order to locate potential areas of interest. During this exploration, for each position of the cursor, the flowlines starting from the vicinity of this position are rendered in real time. Based on his/her expertise, the user has to decide which areas may present a particular interest for the geometry (morphology) of the flow. Each area selected in the first step is examined in detail in the second step. During this second step a single flowline (detailing the variation of the flow velocity) starting from the position selected by the user is rendered. This step helps at clarifying, analyzing in detail, a characteristic sensed by the intermediate of the first step. Here, instead of an algorithm, the expert user has to decide whether the rendered flowline is relevant or not for the construction of the geometry of the flow. All the flowlines selected by the user are the elements that constitute the geometry of the studied flow.