Improved Particle-based Ice Melting Simulation with SPH Air Model

Abstract

This paper presents an improved method for simulating melting of ice. The melting process is implemented as a result of the heat transfer between ice objects and fluids (water and air). Both the solids and the fluids, including air, are modeled as a set of particles with specified temperatures, which can vary locally during simulation. The proposed new particle-based air model allows one to consider in simulation the influence of the natural air convection on the ice melting process. Moreover, the model makes it possible to melt the ice object in a controllable way by means of external heat sources. The motion of air and water, originally described by the Navier- Stokes equations for incompressible fluids, is computed using the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) algorithm, which we modify to properly handle our particle-based air and its interactions with ice and water. Thanks to a GPU-based implementation, the proposed method allows us to run the simulation of ice melting at interactive speed on an average PC.