Smoke Simulation for Fire Engineering using CUDA

Specialeforsvar ved Stefan Glimberg

Abstract:

Computational solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations for fluid dynamics has become an increasingly useful tool for engineering purposes. However, solving fluid dynamics accurately requires a considerable amount of time and computer resources.

In this thesis we investigate the possibilities of interactive smoke simulation for engineering purposes, using the recently released programming model CUDA.

CUDA delivers a programming API that utilize the highly parallel architecture of GPUs. Our computational model is based on a fractional step method to solve the partial differential fractions of the Navier-Stokes equations. A multigrid method has been implemented to solve the pressure Poisson equation. We compare the multigrid solver with a classical Jacobi solver and show that it is both more efficient, accurate and creates better visual details.

Supervisor: Kenny Erleben

Examinator: Niels-Jørgen Christensen, IMM DTU.