3-D graphics applications in fluid flow simulations

The Fluid Dynamics Division of the NASA Ames Research Center is using high performance interactive computer graphics to help visualize flow fields from computer simulations of fluid dynamics about vehicles such as the space shuttle. In current configurations, computational solutions of the flow field are obtained from Cray supercomputers. These solutions are then transferred to workstations for creation and interactive viewing of dynamics 3-D displays of the flow fields. Specific animated sequences can be created for viewing on the workstation or for recording on video tape of 16 mm movies with the aid of specialized software that permits easy editing and automatic tweening of the sequences. The software and hardware required to generate and record these displays are detailed.<
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