Simulation of a flowing snow avalanche using molecular dynamics

Authors

DENİZHAN GÜÇER
HALİL BÜLENT ÖZGÜÇ

DOI

10.3906/elk-1206-101

Abstract

This paper presents an approach for the modeling and simulation of a flowing snow avalanche, which is formed of dry and liquefied snow that slides down a slope, using molecular dynamics and the discrete element method. A particle system is utilized as a base method for the simulation and marching cubes with real-time shaders are employed for rendering. A uniform grid-based neighbor search algorithm is used for collision detection for interparticle and particle-terrain interactions. A mass-spring model of the collision resolution is employed to mimic the compressibility of the snow and particle attraction forces are put into use between the particles and terrain surface. In order to achieve greater performance, general purpose GPU language and multithreaded programming are utilized for collision detection and resolution. The results are displayed with different combinations of rendering methods for the realistic representation of the flowing avalanche.

Keywords

Flowing avalanche simulation, snow, discrete element method, particle system, CUDA

First Page

1596

Last Page

1610

Recommended Citation

GÜÇER, DENİZHAN and ÖZGÜÇ, HALİL BÜLENT (2014) "Simulation of a flowing snow avalanche using molecular dynamics," Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences: Vol. 22: No. 6, Article 15. https://doi.org/10.3906/elk-1206-101
Available at: https://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/elektrik/vol22/iss6/15