What does a yoghurt look like
over time? The food industry will soon be able to answer this question using a
new fluid simulation tool developed by the Department of Computer Science
(DIKU) at the University of Copenhagen as part of a broad partnership with
other research institutions. An epoch-making shift in the way we simulate the
physical world is now a reality. Results come from a five-year collaboration
between the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark (DTU).
The new fluid simulation tool can boast of being very similar to physical
reality. The method distinguishes itself significantly from known simulation
methods which use mesh structures where the vertices are locked in a fixed
position.
In the new method, the mesh
structure is replaced by a dynamic structure where the vertices move one at a
time. This makes it possible to take account of the fluid’s physical properties
more precisely and to see how different types of fluids interact with one
another. The method also ensures such a high degree of detail that even very
thin structures become visible. With previous statistical methods, it is often
a problem that the simulated object’s edges and structures become blurred, and
that its precise physical properties are hard to recreate. The new dynamic
simulation method paves the way for countless applications. But for the time
being, the method cannot be used by games developers because the simulation is
extremely time-consuming as the vertices are moved one at a time.
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