Simulation and Virtual Reality

This is the published version of the paper, which appeared as Multiple Personality, Altered States and Virtual Reality The World Simulation Process Approach, in the journal Dissociation, vol. 3, 222-233. Available over the web from http //www.paradi qm-svs.com/cttart/ (80k)... 

Charles T. Tart, The World Simulation Process Approach. Portions of this paper were originally presented in an invited address at the Seventh International Conference on Multiple Personality/Dissociative States, November 7-11, 1990, Chicago, under the title, "Life in the World Simulator Altered States, Identification, Multiple Personality and Enlightenment." This is the published version of the paper, which appeared as Multiple Personality, Altered States and Virtual Reality The World Simulation Process Approach, in the journal Dissociation, Vol. 3, 222-233. Available over the web from http //www.paradigm-svs.com/cttart/ (80K)... 

Among its many useful features is the ability to simulate both discrete and continuous CA, run in autorandoinize and screensaver modes, display ID CAs as color spacetime diagrams or as changing graphs, display 2D CAs either as flat color displays or as 3D surfaces in a virtual reality interface, file I/O, interactive seeding, a graph-view mode in which the user can select a sample point in a 1-D CA and track the point as a time-series, and automated evolution of CA behaviors. 

Figure 6.2 Virtual reality uses computer graphics to simulate the experience of being in a 3-D world. This type of therapy is used to treat phobias. By wearing a headset and entering a virtual world, patients can come face-to-face with their fears while remaining in a safe environment.

Process models are unfortunately often oversold and improperly used. Simulations, by definition, are not the actual process. To model the process, assumptions must be made about the process that may later prove to be incorrect. Further, there may be variables in the material or processing equipment that are not included in the model. This is especially true of complex processes. It is important not to confuse virtual reality with reality. The claim is often made that the model can optimize a cure cycle. The complex sets of differential equations in these models cannot be inverted to optimize the multiple properties they predict. It is the intelligent use of models by an experimenter or an optimizing routine that finds a best case among the ones tried. As a consequence, the literature is full of references to the development of process models, but examples of their industrial use in complex batch processes are not common. 

The practical example of real distribution systems is the natural gas supply network scheme offered by the Statoil corporation (Figure 3). In order to effectively build up this kind of distribution systems it is necessary to make use of the modular systems development results, and also to make use of the base of virtual reality simulation methodologies in order to prepare the architecture that responds to all requirements and needs of distributed systems. 

The next stage - from theory to practice in distributed system development - is to include logistics planning and material flow simulation (liquid or gas). Based on virtual reality simulation systems the integrated simulation system will combine the virtual reality and the material distribution network simulation. 

The integration of more sophisticate simulation systems like virtual reality systems is also possible. Electronic data management systems, that provide an integration platform for both the layout and the material-flow based data models, give an important contribution to the whole planning process. 

Communication. A 3D presentation of the data representing simulated flow phenomena, is considered to be much easier to understand, especially for non-experts. As a consequence, the design of a newly developed turbine, motor or in our case an extruder can be communicated to customers, project partners etc. Also, interdisciplinary discussion of CFD results within a company, which today becomes more and more important in the product development process, can be improved by means of Virtual Reality. 

The interplay with the work processes at the 3D simulation expert workplace, who is considered to be located in an external company. On the administrative level this use case demonstrates the delegation based cooperation (see Subsect. 3.4.4). On the operational level these work processes were analyzed and improved by application of virtual reality-based methods and tools. 

To visualize and explore BEM results, the postprocessor BEMView has been developed [144, 145]. One functionality of BEMView is to visualize the BEM mesh, such that the user can check it before starting the simulation. With BEMView, the boundary conditions can be visualized as vectors and the screws can be animated. BEMView can be seen as a part of the demonstration scenario in Subsect. 1.2.2 and is further described in Subsect. 1.2.4. It reads the BEM simulation results file and provides a quick visualization of BEM results like particle streamlines already on a desktop computer. Another possibility for results visualization is the visualization within a Virtual Reality (VR) environment. 

Today virtual realities are used more and more frequently to simulate complex processes in systems which are hard to parameterise. Well-known examples from the industry are the simulation of car crash tests or the simulation of traffic for town planning. Here a concept is presented for the use of virtual realities to investigate exploration, monitoring and remediation strategies for contaminated aquifer systems. 

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