DEVELOPMENT OF A SYSTEM TO CREATE MODELS OF FLUID FLOW PHENOMENA

DATA REPRESENTING CERTAIN FLUID FLOW PHENOMENA ARE FREQUENTLY PRESENTED AS THREE DIMENSIONAL GRAPHICS DISPLAYS ON A COMPUTER SCREEN. SUCH DISPLAYS ARE, INHERENTLY, TWO DIMENSIONAL AND GRAPHICS TECHNIQUES FOR VISUALLY PORTRAYING THREE DIMENSIONAL FEATURES ARE LIMITED. FOR EXAMPLE, DEPTH PERCEPTION, PRECISE MEASUREMENT AND DATA COMPARISONS POSE DIFFICULTIES. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH PROJECT IS TO DETERMINE THE TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY OF DEVELOPING A SYSTEM THAT WILL PRODUCE A FAITHFUL THREE DIMENSIONAL MODEL FROM A THREE DIMENSIONAL GRAPHICS DISPLAY OF FLUID FLOW DATA. SUCH A SYSTEM IS TRULY AN INNOVATION IN THAT THERE IS NO CURRENTLY AVAILABLE INEXPENSIVE TECHNIQUE FOR MODEL PRODUCTION DIRECTLY FROM A COMPUTER DISPLAY. THE RESULT WOULD SIGNIFICANTLY EXPAND THE GRAPHICS CAPABILITIES OF COMPUTING MACHINERY AND THE CURRENT APPROACH TO THE STUDY OFFLUID FLOW PHENOMENA. THIS EFFORT WILL EMPLOY A STANDARD PERSONAL COMPUTER WITH GRAPHICS CAPABILITIES, AN ELECTRONIC CONTROL SUBSYSTEM, AN OUTPUT MECHANISM AND CONTROL SOFTWARE. THE ANTICIPATED RESULT OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL BE A FUNCTIONAL SYSTEM PROTOTYPE THAT WILL ALLOW AN ANALYST WHO IS STUDYING A THREE DIMENSIONAL GRAPHIC DISPLAY OF FLUID FLOW DATA TO PRODUCE A TRUE MODEL OF THE DISPLAY INEXPENSIVELY. THE SYSTEM COULD BE EXTENDED TO NUMEROUS APPLICATIONS.