An Interactive Fluid Dynamics Game on the iPhone
Hosam Hassan · 2009
Informatics Department Master of Science by Hosam Hassan In this thesis work we will explain how to solve a computational problem on a small scale with real world limitations. The paper will describe the necessary steps to implement a computational fluid dynamics simulation engine on the iPhone for simulating incompressible fluids. The numerical model behind the fluid engine will be explained briefly and the software architecture for the engine will be discussed in details. A fluid visualization engine will be developed from the scratch and could be easily extended to describe different fluids. The performance optimization process is a corner stone of any real time fluid simulation, specially when it is done on a handheld device with limited processing power and memory. The CFD engine and the visualization engine performance will be analyzed using a profiling tool and the computing extensive parts of the code will be optimized. The performance optimization steps and techniques will be explained in details with code examples. In the end of the paper will see our engine being used in different fluid simulation scenarios and the limitations of the engine will be explained. Important issues in Software Engineering and in Computational Fluid Dynamics will be discussed side by side to help enforce the bridge between both fields and emphasis on the importance of Software Engineering in the field Scientific Computing. Acknowledgements I would like to thank Prof. Michael Bader for his extensive help and supervision throughout the thesis and Prof. Bernd Brugge for agreeing and encouraging me to implement my idea. I would like express my gratitude to my brother Asem Hassan for encouraging me to learn about the iPhone development and for buying me my first ever Mac Machine. I would like to thank my parents and girlfriend for their continuous support and encouragement throughout my thesis work.