Updated: Jul 2, 2010


Visual Simulation of Mixed-motion Avalanches with Interactions Between Snow Layers  

Yuusuke Tsuda, Yonghao Yue, Yoshinori Dobashi, and Tomoyuki Nishita

The University of Tokyo     The University of Tokyo     Hokkaido University      The University of Tokyo
  
Abstract:
In the field of computer graphics, simulation of fluids, including avalanches, is an important research topic. In this paper, we propose a method to simulate a kind of avalanche, mixed-motion avalanche, which is usually large and travels down the slope in fast speed, often resulting in impressive visual effects. The mixed-motion avalanche consists of snow smokes and liquefied snow which form an upper suspension layer and a lower dense-flow layer, respectively. The mixed-motion avalanche travels down the surface of the snow-covered mountain, which is called accumulated snow layer.We simulate a mixed-motion avalanche taking into account these three snow layers. We simulate the suspension layer using a grid-based approach, the denseflow and accumulated snow layer using a particle-based approach. An important contribution of our method is an interaction model between these snow layers that enables us to obtain the characteristic motions of avalanches, such as the generation of the snow smoke from the head of the avalanche.


The Visual Computer (Proc. CGI 2010) Vol.26, No.6-8, pp.883-891

Paper: [pdf]
Video: [currently not available]