Scalable Visual Exploration of 3D Stellar Hydrodynamics Simulations

Abstract

Our team has been simulating 3-D flows in stars using the PPM gas dynamics codes for many years. In the early years, we built highly specialized systems and software to post-process data well after a simulation was completed. Recently, we have moved our visualization and data analysis software to generic, highly cost-effective systems and have moved the human interface to Web browsers. The Web server must still offer fast access to the simulation data, perhaps even while the simulation is running, but the user and a laptop can be located anywhere with wifi. The benefit is fully interactive access to the data with an ability to visualize or plot nearly any desired quantity in any desired fashion at a moment's notice. We have exploited this new capability by integrating it with a browser-driven ability to launch new simulation runs to enable scientific discovery through simulation in homework assignments for a course in stellar structure and evolution at the University of Minnesota.