Lattice Boltzmann Method for Real-Time Simulation of Lava Flows

Abstract

Methods for simulating viscous liquid flows, such as volcanic lava, are developed for use in real-time interactive graphical applications such as computer games. Eulerian lattice Boltzmann methods are implemented and compared to simpler models based on cellular automata and particle systems. A new storage method, the chunky octree, a technique for removing instabilities through velocity limiting and a local approximation to global conservation, the swell and decay method are introduced to achieve real-time performance with frame creation to match video frame rates on desktop computers