Interactive Simulation And Visualization Of Massless, Massed, And Evaporating Particles

Most software packages available for particle tracing focus on visualizing steady or unsteady vector fields by using massless particle trajectories. For many applications, however, the use of massed and evaporating particles would provide a model of physical processes that could be used in product testing or design. In this article we describe the TrackPack toolkit, which provides an integrated interface for computing massless, massed, and evaporating particle trajectories in steady flow. In all cases, we assume a noncoupled model and compute particle trajectories through an existing vector field by numerically integrating with forward Euler, fourth-order Runge-Kutta, or an analytic streamline calculation. The TrackPack software effort was motivated by an industrial application to model pollution control systems in industrial boilers. We briefly describe the project and the visualization environment, and we demonstrate the necessity for massed, evaporating models in this application. ..

A Comparison of Inexact Newton and Coordinate Descent Mesh Optimization Techniques

We compare inexact Newton and coordinate descent methods for optimizing the quality of a mesh by repositioning the vertices, where quality is measured by the harmonic mean of the mean-ratio metric. The effects of problem size, element size heterogeneity, and various vertex displacement schemes on the performance of these algorithms are assessed for a series of tetrahedral meshes

A Comparison of Two Optimization Methods for Mesh Quality Improvement

We compare inexact Newton and coordinate descent optimization methods for improving the quality of a mesh by repositioning the vertices, where the overall quality is measured by the harmonic mean of the mean-ratio metric. The e#ects of problem size, element size heterogeneity, and various vertex displacement schemes on the performance of these algorithms are assessed for a series of tetrahedral meshes

Collaborative Virtual Environments Used in the Design of Pollution Control Systems

this paper we describe the development of an interactive simulation and analysis tool for injective pollution control systems for commercial boilers and incinerators. This tool uses three-dimensional, immersive visualization techniques in the CAVE to allow several scientists to collaborate to quickly and effectively place multiple injectors and evaluate the resulting spray coverage. The required particle dynamics calculations and several techniques for the interactive visualization of computational fluid dynamics data and spray simulation are discussed. For optimizing system performance, the particle dynamics calculations are separate from the visualization process, and data is transferred to one or more CAVEs by using the CAVEcomm messagepassing library. We discuss the demonstration of this tool as part of the I-WAY GII Testbed and present performance results for different architectures and network configurations using both ethernet and ATM connectivity. Our experiments show that ethernet bandwidth is insufficient for remote, interactive collaboration. 1 Introductio

Interactive Computational Models of Particle Dynamics Using Virtual Reality

We discuss an interactive environment for the visualization, analysis, and modification of computational models used in industrial settings. In particular, we focus on interactively placing massless, massed, and evaporating particulate matter in computational fluid dynamics applications. We discuss the numerical model used to compute the particle pathlines in the fluid flow for display and analysis. We briefly describe the toolkits developed for vector and scalar field visualization, interactive particulate source placement, and a threedimensional GUI interface. This system is currently used in two industrial applications, and we present our tools in the context of these applications. We summarize the current state of the project and offer directions for future research. Keywords: Interactive visualization, computational steering, particle tracking, industrial applications 1 INTRODUCTION An increasing number of industrial applications rely on computational models to reduce costs in pr..

Interactive Simulation And Analysis Of Emission Reduction Systems In Commercial Boilers

In this paper we describe an interactive virtual environment developed to model an emission reduction system for commercial boilers. The interactive environment is used to optimize the performance of the reduction system through the spatial adjustment and spray reconfiguration of reagent injectors. We describe the three principal components of the system: a computational model for the particle dynamics, a three-dimensional display device and graphics environment, and the communication layer that allows the interaction of the user in the visualization environment with the computational model. Timing results for each component are given for three hardware configurations that demonstrate the real-time performance of this tool. INTRODUCTION The advent of distributed memory computing has enabled the rapid solution of increasingly complex numerical models for a wide variety of three-dimensional applications. Interactive visualization tools that allow scientists to effectively validate and ..

Remote Engineering Tools for the Design of Pollution Control Systems for Commercial Boilers

this paper, we discuss a pilot project involving a collaboration between Nalco Fuel Tech (NFT), a small company that has developed state-of-the-art emission reduction systems for commercial boilers, and the computational science group at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). The key objective of this project is the development of a real-time, interactive capability that allows the user to drive the computational model from within the virtual environment. In this case, the required interaction involves the placement of chemical injection systems in the boiler and a quick evaluation of their effectiveness in reducing undesirable emissions from the combustion process. The numerical model of the combustion process and its interaction with the chemical reactions used to reduce emissions is complex, and the solution is computationally intensive. The timely solution of these models depends on advanced numerical methods and the effective use of high-performance computing resources. Our approach includes an implementation of an injector model that can be run on a variety of architectures ranging from the IBM SP to networks of workstations. This calculation is separate from the visualization process and numerical results are communicated to the virtual boiler using the CAVEcomm message-passing library developed at Argonne National Laboratory [4]. The virtual boiler environment consists of several components designed to aide in the efficient optimization of the injection system. In this paper we discuss the software that allows rapid virtual boiler construction, various mechanisms for data visualization, and a package for the interactive placement of injector nozzles. Once the computational design process is complete, engineers are sent to the boiler site to install the injection s..