Density Maps for Improved SPH Boundary Handling

In this paper, we present the novel concept of density maps for robust handling of static and rigid dynamic boundaries in fluid simulations based on Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH). In contrast to the vast majority of existing approaches, we use an implicit discretization for a continuous extension of the density field throughout solid boundaries. Using the novel representation we enhance accuracy and efficiency of density and density gradient evaluations in boundary regions by computationally efficient lookups into our density maps. The map is generated in a preprocessing step and discretizes the density contribution in the boundary's near-field. In consequence of the high regularity of the continuous boundary density field, we use cubic Lagrange polynomials on a narrow-band structure of a regular grid for discretization. This strategy not only removes the necessity to sample boundary surfaces with particles but also decouples the particle size from the number of sample points required to represent the boundary. Moreover, it solves the ever-present problem of particle deficiencies near the boundary. In several comparisons we show that the representation is more accurate than particle samplings, especially for smooth curved boundaries. We further demonstrate that our approach robustly handles scenarios with highly complex boundaries and even outperforms one of the most recent sampling based techniques.