Real-Time Simulation of Aeolian Sand Movement and Sand Ripple Evolution: A Method Based on the Physics of Blown Sand

Abstract

Simulation and visualization of aeolian sand movement and sand ripple evolution are a challenging subject. In this paper, we propose a physically based modeling and simulating method that can be used to synthesize sandy terrain in various patterns. Our method is based on the mechanical behavior of individual sand grains, which are widely studied in the physics of blown sand. We accounted significant mechanisms of sand transportation into the sand model, such as saltation, successive saltation and collapsing, while simplified the vegetation model and wind field model to make the simulation feasible and affordable. We implemented the proposed method on the programming graphics processing unit (GPU) to get real-time simulation and rendering. Finally, we proved that our method can reflect many characteristics of sand ripple evolution through several demonstrations. We also gave several synthesized desert scenes made from the simulated height field to display its significance on application.