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Real time simulation of a tornado

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Abstract

We present a novel method for simulating a tornado scene and its damage on the environment in real time, which is recognized as a challenging task for researchers of computer graphics. The method adopts a Reynold-average two-fluid model (RATFM) for modeling the motion of a tornado. In RATFM, the air flow (wind field) is simulated by Reynold-average Navier–Stokes equations. The motion of dust particles is approximated as a continuous fluid and is modeled by non-viscosity Navier–Stokes equations. An interaction force is introduced to simulate the interaction between these two-fluid systems efficiently. Considering the data structure of our method, we design a RATFM solver on the GPU to achieve real time simulation. We also adopt new features of the GPU to accelerate our algorithm. Then, an efficient method is proposed to simulate the tornado’s interaction with surrounding large objects such as a car, a bus, a house, etc. In our model, the objects in the tornado scene are represented by connected voxels and a corresponding graph storing the link information. Compared with the photographs of real tornado displays, our simulated results are quite satisfactory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Lab of CAD&CG, Zhejiang University, Zijingang Campus, Hangzhou, 310027, P.R. China

    Shiguang Liu, Zhangye Wang, Zheng Gong & Qunsheng Peng

  2. School of Computer Science and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P.R. China

    Shiguang Liu

Authors
  1. Shiguang Liu
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  2. Zhangye Wang
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  3. Zheng Gong
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  4. Qunsheng Peng
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Correspondence to Zhangye Wang.

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Liu, S., Wang, Z., Gong, Z. et al. Real time simulation of a tornado. Visual Comput 23, 559–567 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00371-007-0118-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00371-007-0118-7

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