COMPARING SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS FOR SIMULATING 2D NON-BUOYANT FLUID PARCEL TRAJECTORY UNDER INERTIAL OSCILLATION: A PRELIMINARY EDUCATIONAL STUDY

Abstract

This study presents a preliminary numerical investigation of the two-dimensional trajectory of a non-buoyant fluid parcel subjected to inertial oscillations and abrupt external forcing events. The simulations were implemented using Python, GNU Octave, R, Julia, and Fortran open-source scientific computing environments. By running 1,000 iterations in each environment, we evaluated the computational performance of these languages in tackling this idealized problem. The results, visualized through static plots and animation, validate the numerical model's ability to represent the fundamental physics governing fluid motion. Statistical analysis using the Kruskal-Wallis test and Dunn's post-hoc test with Bonferroni correction revealed that Fortran exhibits significantly faster execution times than other environments. However, the choice of programming language should also consider factors such as coding expertise, library availability, and scalability requirements. This study focuses on the performance of scientific computing environments within each language rather than the languages themselves. The observed execution times should be interpreted in the context of the specific environments used, as they often leverage optimized libraries written in lower-level languages. Despite the limitations of this work, such as the simplified 2D model and the use of a single hardware configuration, this study provides valuable insights into selecting appropriate computational tools. It contributes to educational resources for teaching idealized fluid dynamics models. Future studies could explore more complex scenarios, a more comprehensive range of programming environments, and the impact of different numerical schemes and physical parameterizations.