A Functional Approach to the Visual Simulation of Gaseous Turbulence

Abstract

This paper presents a functional method for the visual simulation of 2-D or 3-D turbulent gaseous motion by using time-varying fractals. The used function incorporates results from the"spectral theory of turbulence", thereby providing a physics-based approach adapted to the needs of computer graphics. The involved turbulence function is band-limited, continuous, differentiable, anisotrop, and smooth, provides different fractal dimensions along each axis, may be evaluated locally with different parameters, and requires only minimal storage space, thus supporting an implementation on large parallel processing networks with small nodes. Inhomogeneity in the form of local disturbances of the turbulence field may also be easily considered. The parameters used to describe turbulent motion are rather intuitive, so that they may be utilized easily by users. Examples for modeling different types of clouds and fire are given.