Fluid Test

Fluid Dynamics Simulation

By Dan Schroeder,
Physics Department,
Weber State University

This application runs only in modern
browsers. For best results, use Google Chrome.

This is a simulation of a two-dimensional fluid. Initially the fluid
is flowing from left to right, and a linear barrier (shown in black) diverts the fluid and creates
vortices. The colors indicate the curl, or local rotational motion, of the fluid.
Use the controls to adjust the flow speed and viscosity, draw different barriers, drag the
fluid around, plot other quantities besides the curl, show the force exerted by the fluid
on the barriers, and measure the fluid’s density and velocity at any point. Enjoy!

The simulation uses a fairly simple
lattice-Boltzmann algorithm,
which you can see by viewing the JavaScript source code. As of mid-2013, the simulation
runs fastest under Chrome on either MacOS or Windows. Firefox is somewhat slower and Safari slower still,
while Opera and Internet Explorer are much slower. You can adjust the resolution to increase or
decrease the simulation speed.

If you don’t see the slider controls above, try updating your browser.
As of August 2013, the most recent versions of all major browsers should show the sliders.

This HTML5-canvas-JavaScript web app is a work in progress. It still
has a few bugs and awkward features, which I hope to address some day.

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