Avizo Wind Software Used to Study the Great Sphinx Erosion

10/15/2009

The Great Sphinx is a monumental statue that is considered the first truly colossal sculpture in Egypt and a national symbol of both ancient and modern Egypt. The statue would have disappeared long ago had it not been buried under sand for so long. The statue is eroding due to the effects of wind, humidity and the smog from Cairo. Wind is one of the most critical denudation factors that are causing the erosion of the statue, especially when it carries dust. In order to investigate the formation of the low speed wind over the Sphinx model, a simulation is made that involve solving the 3D incompressible Navier-Stokes equations on a several millions of points’ computational mesh. This is a collaborative work between IBM and Bibliotheca Alexandrina based on research work conducted in IBM Center for Advanced Studies in Cairo.

The VISTA team Of Bibliotheca Alexandrina has implemented the visualization of the simulation results on the CAVE system using Avizo Wind to provide new insights and better understanding. Thanks to the calculation and visualization of complex algorithms, (Stream Ribbons, Line Integral Convolution (LIC) Algorithm, Illuminated Stream Lines (ISL) Algorithm and Vorticity), the researchers can see the invisible, understand the degradation of the Great Sphinx and present their result.

"The VISTA team has chosen Avizo Wind because of its ability to display and manipulate meaningful graphics representations of natural phenomena. Using Avizo Wind, VISTA is able to use advanced visualization techniques to understand complex simulation data."

Platforms

Avizo Wind 6 is available for Windows (32-/64-bit), Linux (32-/64-bit) and MacOS.

Free Evaluation Version

 www.vsg3d.com/vsg_trial.php