Collaborative Research: HCC: Medium: Aerodynamic Virtual Human Simulation on Face, Body, and Crowd

该项目开发了第一个高保真空气动力学虚拟人体模型，以支持科学界并解决各种新出现的公共卫生问题。拟议的合作研究解决了与动态虚拟人体系统的建模和模拟相关的重大且众多的计算挑战，涉及空气动力学流动过程和各种物理组件（例如面部、头发、衣服、人群和热环境）。这里的具体重点是对人类空气动力微环境及其与人类呼吸活动的相互作用进行建模，而这些在虚拟人类文献中很大程度上被忽视了。研究目的是：（1）模拟人脸边界附近由薄层气流组成的气动微环境； （2）模拟与人体各部位（包括皮肤、头发、衣服表面）的接触、摩擦和固气耦合； (3) 开发数值算法来模拟空气动力学群体，以进行多物理场和多智能体模拟。在这些目标中，将开发可微数值求解器，以促进人类呼吸相关问题的优化和计算设计。所提出的算法将引入基于第一原理的一系列新计算工具，以填补先前被忽视的虚拟人体建模空气动力学子领域的模拟、动画、设计和教育方面的空白。 PI 还将以开源软件库和模拟结果数据库的形式传播结果。如果成功，这些具有空气动力学意识的虚拟人体模型，加上可微分物理模拟器、个性化数据模型、交互式可视化和 VR/AR 显示的集合，可以为涉及人体形态的各种应用提供方便直观的工具。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project develops the first high-fidelity aerodynamic virtual human model to support the scientific community and to tackle various emerging public-health problems. The proposed collaborative research addresses the significant and numerous computational challenges associated with the modeling and simulation of dynamic virtual human systems, involving aerodynamic flow processes and various physical components (e.g., face, hair, clothes, crowd, and thermal environments). The specific focus here is on modeling the human's aerodynamic micro-environment and its interactions with human respiratory activities, which have largely been neglected in the virtual human literature. The research aims are: (1) model the aerodynamic microenvironment consisting of thin layers of airflow near the boundary of human face; (2) simulate contact, friction, and solid-air coupling with areas of the human body, including skin, hair, and clothing surfaces; and (3) develop numerical algorithms to model aerodynamic crowds for multi-physics and multi-agent simulation. Among these aims, differentiable numerical solvers will be developed to facilitate optimization and computational design for human respiration-related problems.The proposed algorithms will introduce a new family of computational tools based on first principles to fill the gaps in simulation, animation, design, and education regarding the previously ignored aerodynamic subarea of virtual human modeling. The PIs will also disseminate the results as open-source software libraries and databases of simulation results. If successful, the availability of these aerodynamics-aware virtual human models, augmented by an ensemble of differentiable physics simulators, individualized data models, interactive visualization, and VR/AR display, can provide convenient and intuitive tools for various applications that involve the human form.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.