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Comparisons of wind tunnel experiments and computational fluid dynamics simulations

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Abstract

This paper describes the architecture of an image and data level comparative visualization system and experiences using it to study computational fluid dynamics data and experimental wind tunnel data. We illustrate how the system can be used to compare data sets from different sources, data sets with different resolutions and data sets computed by using different mathematical models of fluid flow. We include recent improvements including use of the comparison of vector fields, ability to interactively interrogate the comparisons, addition of new metrics, the latest FEL2.0 and VisTech libraries, and GUI for a calculator module.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tippett Studio, Berkeley, California

    Shen Q.

  2. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, Livermore, California

    Uselton S.

  3. Computer Science Department, UCSC, Santa Cruz, California

    Pang A.

Authors
  1. Shen Q.
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  2. Uselton S.
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  3. Pang A.
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Additional information

Qin “Jean” Shen: She obtained her B.S. in Computer Science from China’s Tsinghua University, and her M.S. in Computer Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1999. where she worked on comparative visualization, cloth simulation and inverse kinematics. Since graduating from UCSC, she has been working in the programming department at Tippett Studio, a movie special effects company, writing custom plug-ins and other tools for work on several feature films.

Sam Uselton: Sam earned his B.A. in Mathematics and Economics in 1973 from the University of Texas at Austin. He earned his M.S. in 1976 and his Ph.D. in 1981, both from the University of Texas at Dallas. He spent ten years as a computer science faculty member, followed by almost ten years as a researcher at NASA Ames Research Center, and more than three years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. His current research interests include interactive methods of exploring very large scientific data sets, methods for evaluating visualizations and visualization systems, data fusion, comparative analysis methods, feature specification and detection, pattern recognition, innovative user interfaces, direct volume rendering, parallel rendering and realistic image synthesis.

Alex Pang: He obtained his B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of the Philippines, his MS and Ph.D. in Computer Science from UCLA in 1984 and 1990 respectively. He is an associate professor in the Computer Science department at UCSC, and has worked and published in the area of comparative and uncertainty visualization for several years. Dr. Pang’s other research interests are collaborative visualization, virtual reality interfaces, and computer graphics.

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Shen, Q., Uselton, S. & Pang, A. Comparisons of wind tunnel experiments and computational fluid dynamics simulations. J Vis 6, 31–39 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03180962

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03180962

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