Interactive High-Quality Visualization of Higher-Order Finite Elements

Higher-order finite element methods have emerged as an important discretization scheme for simulation. They are increasingly used in contemporary numerical solvers, generating a new class of data that must be analyzed by scientists and engineers. Currently available visualization tools for this type of data are either batch oriented or limited to certain cell types and polynomial degrees. Other approaches approximate higher-order data by resampling resulting in trade-offs in interactivity and quality. To overcome these limitations, we have developed a distributed visualization system which allows for interactive exploration of non-conforming unstructured grids, resulting from space-time discontinuous Galerkin simulations, in which each cell has its own higher-order polynomial solution. Our system employs GPU-based raycasting for direct volume rendering of complex grids which feature non-convex, curvilinear cells with varying polynomial degree. Frequency-based adaptive sampling accoun...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2010
• Where: Eurographics
• Authors: Markus Üffinger, Steffen Frey, Thomas Ertl
• Keywords: Computer Graphics, EUROGRAPHICS 2010, Non-conforming Unstructured Grids, Polynomial Degree