A novel algorithm for incompressible flow using only a coarse grid projection

Large scale fluid simulation can be difficult using existing techniques due to the high computational cost of using large grids. We present a novel technique for simulating detailed fluids quickly. Our technique coarsens the Eulerian fluid grid during the pressure solve, allowing for a fast implicit update but still maintaining the resolution obtained with a large grid. This allows our simulations to run at a fraction of the cost of existing techniques while still providing the fine scale structure and details obtained with a full projection. Our algorithm scales well to very large grids and large numbers of processors, allowing for high fidelity simulations that would otherwise be intractable. © 2010 ACM.