FLUID DYNAMICS SIMULATION USING CELLULAR AUTOMATA

The idea to apply project-based learning as a didactical method in the freshman year was primarily driven by the need to motivate the students to apply theoretical knowledge in practice as early as possible. Faculty teaching in the areas of mathematics, science and information technology noted that students were not always enthusiastic in approaching the theoretical concepts involved in these disciplines, and that they frequently failed to recognize the interrelatedness of what they were studying as well as its applicability to their future professions. In the last academic year a particularly challenging problem was posed on those first-year students, who have, according to their interests, chosen the Lattice-Gas Cellular Automaton project. Their task was the implementation of the FHP lattice-gas model in a computer program for the visualisation of two-dimensional fluid density and velocity distributions. In this model, particles can move with the same velocity at each site of the residing triangular lattice in any of six possible directions. An exclusion principle puts a stringent constraint on these velocities. Collision occurs synchronously at the lattice nodes, while the streaming takes place on the connection between each two nodes. The collision rules are chosen in such a way that mass and momentum are conserved. By multi-scale analysis it can be shown that the FHP model asymptotically goes over to the incompressible Navier-Stokes equation. The students worked in teams of three, and four groups were assigned the same task in order to introduce a competitive aspect, which increased the students' motivation. The members of faculty who have proposed the project supervised and supported the students. The progress of the work was continuously evaluated in order to ensure a successful outcome of the projects. In this paper the project task, the essentials of the lattice-gas model, the students' learning process and its assessment will be discussed, and the outcome of the project will be presented.