Large-Scale Finite Difference Grid Generation and Visualization Method Based on Ray Casting Algorithm

Abstract

Finite difference method (FDM) is one of the most popular method for explosion simulation. Large-scale, accuracy and automatic grid generation is the essential for numerical simulation. Two kinds of grid generation method are wildly used: ray casting method and slicing method. In this paper, the ray casting method is optimized and some special cases of algorithm are analyzed, which improved the efficiency and stability for large-scale grid generation. A facet searching method is proposed to improve the performance of ray casting algorithm. An efficient data storage method is proposed for storing and visualizing grid data, which makes it possible to display trillions of grids. The advantages of modified ray casting algorithm are presented through performance comparison between ray casting and slicing method in different situation. Finally, examples of grid generation and explosion simulation are presented. The accuracy and practicability of algorithm is proved.