Flow Modeling and Rendering to Support 3D River Shipping Based on Cross-Sectional Observation Data

The flow in meandering rivers is characterized by rapid changes in flow velocity and water level, especially in flooded environments. Accurate cross-sectional observation data enable continuous monitoring of flow conditions, which is important for river navigation. In this paper, cross-sectional dat...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Xuequan Zhang, Jin Liu, Zihe Hu, Ming Zhong
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-03-01
Series:ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/9/3/156
Description
Summary:The flow in meandering rivers is characterized by rapid changes in flow velocity and water level, especially in flooded environments. Accurate cross-sectional observation data enable continuous monitoring of flow conditions, which is important for river navigation. In this paper, cross-sectional data based flow modeling and rendering methods are studied to build an interactive hybrid flow environment for three-dimensional river shipping. First, the sparse cross-sectional data are extrapolated and interpolated to provide dense sampling points. Then, the data are visualized separately by dynamic texture mapping, particle tracking, streamline rendering, and contour surface rendering. Finally, the rendering models are integrated with ship animation to build a comprehensive hybrid river navigation scenario. The proposed methods are tested by visualizing measured cross-sectional data in the Yangtze River using an open-source software, called World Wind. The experimental results demonstrate that the hybrid flow rendering achieves comprehensive visual effect and the rendering frame rate is greater than 30. The interactive hybrid flow visualization is beneficial to support river shipping analysis.
ISSN:2220-9964