JavaScript simple fluid dynamics simulator

Showcasing the power of the new Safari4 Javascript engine, someone has built a Navier-Stokes equation solver that runs entirely in JavaScript.  Simply select the resolution & solver iterations (The default work nicely) then start clicking in the big black box.  You can start & stop the simulation, and click the “Toggle drawing mode” to switch between flow glyphs and surface visualizations.  The image above was rendered with the simulation on FireFox3.5 beta, running at 5-6fps.

The surface visualizations also allow you to add “density sources” which create some impressive flow visualization effects.  Is this the future of simulation/visualization on the web?  I doubt it, but it’s pretty kewl either way.

Oliver’s simple fluid dynamics simulator.

This story written by Randall Hand

Randall Hand is a visualization scientist working for a federal research lab, aiding researchers to discover the insights buried within their terabyte datasets generated on some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. He also runs VizWorld.com .