Constructing stream surfaces in steady 3D vector fields

  • Authors:

  • J. P. M. Hultquist

  • Affiliations:

  • Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation Systems Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California

  • Venue:
  • VIS '92 Proceedings of the 3rd conference on Visualization '92
  • Year:
  • 1992

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Abstract

A streamline is a curve which is everywhere tangent to a fluid velocity field. A stream surface is the locus of an infinite set of such curves, rooted at every point along a continuous originating line segment, or rake. A stream surface may be approximated by the triangular tiling of adjacent pairs of integrated streamlines. Such a surface may be refined by repeatedly splitting the widest of the ribbons by the insertion of new curves.A more efficient method begins with a discretization of the rake. These particles are repeatedly advanced a short distance through the flow field. New polygons are appended to the downstream edge of the surface. The spacing of the particles is adjusted to maintain an adequate sampling across the width of the growing surface. This approach more efficiently accesses the flow field volume data and produces a better distribution of points over the two dimensions of the stream surface.