NVIDIA Corporation
Mass conserving eulerian fluid simulation

Abstract:

A simulation engine performs a mass-conserving Eulerian fluid simulation by manipulating the distribution of density between nodes associated with the fluid simulation. The simulation engine traces a velocity field upstream to identify the source of mass that currently resides at a given node. The simulation engine then adjusts (i) the density contributions to that source from adjacent nodes and (ii) the density contributions provided by that source to the given node. In doing so, the simulation engine maintains conservation of mass at a local level between nodes within a given neighborhood. As a result, mass is conserved at a global level. One advantage of the disclosed technique is that a fluid interface associated with the fluid simulation may appear physically realistic, because numerical errors typically caused by violations of conservation of mass may be eliminated.