CFD Data Visualization in Virtual Reality

The utilities that Virtual Reality (VR) software offer are largely unused within the field of fluid mechanics. Conventional scientific visualization softwares display complex three-dimensional flow fields onto two-dimensional supports (e.g. monitors, screens and TVs). However, intricate topological structures that may be present in flow fields, such as vortex tubes and coherent structures, are easily obscured when projected on a 2D-plane making the discovery of flow mechanics more challenging. In addition to its potential as a new visualization approach, the sensory engaging nature of VR offers new opportunities for experiential learning with K-12 students, promotion of STEM education related to fluid mechanics, and training of young researchers. In this project, a render pipeline was established that can port visualized datasets from well known softwares such as ParaView and VisIt into VR. The developed render pipeline only takes a short amount of time to implement and should never present any hassle to its users. We use this pipeline to visualize in VR simulations of a particle-laden turbulent channel flow at friction Reynolds number 180. This pipeline is used to visualize the streamwise velocity field and the Lagrangian spherical particles, which preferentially accumulate near the walls owing to turbophoresis. Compared to visualizations on traditional 2D platforms, VR makes flow inspection significantly more intuitive thanks to the possibilities of whole-body interactions such as scaling and rotating the 3D models with hand gestures, and close examination by physically leaning into the model and walking around it. As part of this presentation, a prerecorded video will be played for the audience.