Real-time High-fidelity Surface Flow Simulation

Surface flow phenomena, such as rain water flowing down a tree trunk and progressive water front in a shower room, are common in real life. However, compared with the 3D spatial fluid flow, these surface flow problems have been much less studied in the graphics community. To tackle this research gap, we present an efficient, robust and high-fidelity simulation approach based on the shallow-water equations. Specifically, the standard shallow-water flow model is extended to general triangle meshes with a feature-based bottom friction model, and a series of coherent mathematical formulations are derived to represent the full range of physical effects that are important for real-world surface flow phenomena. In addition, by achieving compatibility with existing 3D fluid simulators and by supporting physically realistic interactions with multiple fluids and solid surfaces, the new model is flexible and readily extensible for coupled phenomena. A wide range of simulation examples are presented to demonstrate the performance of the new approach

Accuracy of facial skeletal surfaces segmented from CT and CBCT radiographs.

The accuracy of three-dimensional (3D) facial skeletal surface models derived from radiographic volumes has not been extensively investigated yet. For this, ten human dry skulls were scanned with two Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) units, a CT unit, and a highly accurate optical surface scanner that provided the true reference models. Water-filled head shells were used for soft tissue simulation during radiographic imaging. The 3D surface models that were repeatedly segmented from the radiographic volumes through a single-threshold approach were used for reproducibility testing. Additionally, they were compared to the true reference model for trueness measurement. Comparisons were performed through 3D surface approximation techniques, using an iterative closest point algorithm. Differences between surface models were assessed through the calculation of mean absolute distances (MAD) between corresponding surfaces and through visual inspection of facial surface colour-coded distance maps. There was very high reproducibility (approximately 0.07 mm) and trueness (0.12 mm on average, with deviations extending locally to 0.5 mm), and no difference between radiographic scanners or settings. The present findings establish the validity of lower radiation CBCT imaging protocols at a similar level to the conventional CT images, when 3D surface models are required for the assessment of facial morphology

Spatially distributed modelling of surface water-groundwater exchanges during overbank flood events – a case study at the Garonne River

Exchanges between surface water (SW) and groundwater (GW) are of considerable importance to flood- plain ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles. Flood events in particular are important for riparian water budget and element exchanges and processing. However SW-GW exchanges present complex spatial and temporal patterns and modelling can provide useful knowledge about the processes involved at the scale of the reach and its adjacent floodplain. This study used a physically-based, spatially-distributed mod- elling approach for studying SW-GW exchanges. The modelling in this study is based on the MOHID Land model, combining the modelling of surface water flow in 2D with the Saint-Venant equation and the modelling of unsaturated groundwater flow in 3D with the Richards’ equation. Overbank flow dur- ing floods was also integrated, as well as water exchanges between the two domains across the entire floodplain. Conservative transport simulations were also performed to study and validate the simulation of the mixing between surface water and groundwater. The model was applied to the well-monitored study site of Monbéqui (6.6 km ²) in the Garonne floodplain (south-west France) for a five-month period and was able to represent the hydrology of the study area. Infiltration (SW to GW) and exfiltration (SW to GW) were characterised over the five-month period. Results showed that infiltration and exfiltration exhibited strong spatiotemporal variations, and infiltration from overbank flow accounted for 88% of the total simulated infiltration, corresponding to large flood periods. The results confirmed that overbank flood events played a determinant role in floodplain water budget and SW-GW exchanges compared to smaller (below bankfull) flood events. The impact of floods on water budget appeared to be similar for flood events exceeding a threshold corresponding to the five-year return period event due to the study area’s topography. Simulation of overbank flow during flood events was an important feature in the ac- curate assessment of exchanges between surface water and groundwater in floodplain areas, especially when considering large flood events

Three-Dimensional Modelling and Simulation of the Ice Accretion Process on Aircraft Wings

© 2018 Chang S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.In this article, a new computational method for the three-dimensional (3D) ice accretion analysis on an aircraft wing is formulated and validated. The two-phase flow field is calculated based on Eulerian-Eulerian approach using standard dispersed turbulence model and second order upwind differencing with the aid of commercial software Fluent, and the corresponding local droplet collection efficiency, convective heat transfer coefficient, freezing fraction and surface temperature are obtained. The classical Messinger model is modified to be capable of describing 3D thermodynamic characteristics of ice accretion. Considering effects of runback water, which is along chordwise and spanwise direction, an extended Messinger method is employed for the prediction of the 3D ice accretion rates. Validation of the newly developed model is carried out through comparisons with available experimental ice shape and LEWICE codes over a GLC-305 wing under both rime and glaze icing conditions. Results show that good agreement is achieved between the current computational ice shapes and the compared results. Further calculations based on the proposed method over a M6 wing under different test conditions are numerically demonstrated.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Assessment of inlet efficiency through a 3D simulation: numerical and experimental comparison

Inlet efficiency is a requirement for characterizing the flow transfers between surface and sewer flow during rain events. The dual drainage approach is based on the joint analysis of both upper and lower drainage levels, and the flow transfer is one of the relevant elements to define properly this joint behaviour. This paper presents the results of an experimental and numerical investigation about the inlet efficiency definition. A full scale (1:1) test platform located in the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) reproduces both the runoff process in streets and the water entering the inlet. Data from tests performed on this platform allow the inlet efficiency to be estimated as a function of significant hydraulic and geometrical parameters. A reproduction of these tests through a numerical three-dimensional code (Flow-3D) has been carried out simulating this type of flow by solving the RANS equations. The aim of the work was to reproduce the hydraulic performance of a previously tested grated inlet under several flow and geometric conditions using Flow-3D as a virtual laboratory. This will allow inlet efficiencies to be obtained without previous experimental tests. Moreover, the 3D model allows a better understanding of the hydraulics of the flow interception and the flow patterns approaching the inlet.Preprin

A Survey of Ocean Simulation and Rendering Techniques in Computer Graphics

This paper presents a survey of ocean simulation and rendering methods in computer graphics. To model and animate the ocean's surface, these methods mainly rely on two main approaches: on the one hand, those which approximate ocean dynamics with parametric, spectral or hybrid models and use empirical laws from oceanographic research. We will see that this type of methods essentially allows the simulation of ocean scenes in the deep water domain, without breaking waves. On the other hand, physically-based methods use Navier-Stokes Equations (NSE) to represent breaking waves and more generally ocean surface near the shore. We also describe ocean rendering methods in computer graphics, with a special interest in the simulation of phenomena such as foam and spray, and light's interaction with the ocean surface

Influence of aerosols, clouds, and sunglint on polarization spectra of Earthshine

Ground-based observations of the Earthshine, i.e., the light scattered by Earth to the Moon, and then reflected back to Earth, simulate space observations of our planet and represent a powerful benchmark for the studies of Earth-like planets. Earthshine spectra are strongly linearly polarized, owing to scattering by molecules and small particles in the atmosphere of the Earth and surface reflection, and may allow us to measure global atmospheric and surface properties of planet Earth. Aims. We aim to interpret already published spectropolarimetric observations of the Earthshine by comparing them with new radiative transfer model simulations including a fully realistic three-dimensional (3D) surface-atmosphere model for planet Earth. We used the highly advanced Monte Carlo radiative transfer model MYSTIC to simulate polarized radiative transfer in the atmosphere of the Earth without approximations regarding the geometry, taking into account the polarization from surface reflection and multiple scattering by molecules, aerosol particles, cloud droplets, and ice crystals. We have shown that Earth spectropolarimetry is highly sensitive to all these input parameters, and we have presented simulations of a fully realistic Earth atmosphere-surface model including 3D cloud fields and two-dimensional (2D) surface property maps. Our modeling results show that scattering in high ice water clouds and reflection from the ocean surface are crucial to explain the continuum polarization at longer wavelengths as has been reported in Earthshine observations taken at the Very Large Telescope in 2011 (3.8 % and 6.6 % at 800 nm, depending on which part of Earth was visible from the Moon at the time of the observations). We found that the relatively high degree of polarization of 6.6 % can be attributed to light reflected by the ocean surface in the sunglint region