Large-Scale CFD Data Handling in a VR-based Otorhinolaryngological CAS-System using a Linux-Cluster

摘要

Many of the operations to eliminate complaints concerning respiration impairments fail. In order to improve the success rate it is important to recognize the responsiveness of the flow field within the nose's cavities. Therefore we are developing a Computer Assisted Surgery (CAS) system that combines Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Virtual Reality (VR) technology. However, the primary prerequisite for VR-based applications is real-time interaction. A single graphics workstation is not capable of satisfying this condition and of simultaneously calculating flow features employing the huge CFD data set. In this paper we will present our approach of a distributed system that relieves the load on the graphics workstation and makes use of an "off-the-shelf" parallel Linux cluster in order to calculate streamlines. Moreover, we introduce first results and discuss remaining difficulties.