Derivative Particles for Simulating Detailed Movements of Fluids

We present a new fluid simulation technique that significantly reduces the nonphysical dissipation of velocity. The proposed method is based on an apt use of particles and derivative information. We note that a major source of numerical dissipation in the conventional Navier-Stokes equations solver lies in the advection step. Hence, starting with the conventional grid-based simulator, when the details of fluid movements need to be simulated, we replace the advection part with a particle simulator. When swapping between the grid-based and particle-based simulators, the physical quantities such as the level set and velocity must be converted. For this purpose, we develop a novel dissipation-suppressing conversion procedure that utilizes the derivative information stored in the particles, as well as in the grid points. For the fluid regions where such details are not needed, the advection is simulated using an octree-based constrained interpolation profile (CIP) solver, which we develop in this work. Through several experiments, we show that the proposed technique can reproduce the detailed movements of high-Reynolds-number fluids such as droplets/bubbles, thin water sheets, and whirlpools. The increased accuracy in the advection, which forms the basis of the proposed technique, can also be used to produce better results in larger scale fluid simulations.