Rheo-Art Application of Fluid Dynamics to Art Creation


Ryuji Takaki




Slow mixing of a viscous fluid due to rotating cylinders dipped in the fluid is computed based on the basic law of viscous fluid dynamics. Several dye spots added to the fluid show chaotic but attractive patterns as the cylinders are rotated in turn. Both two- and three-dimensional cases are tried. In the two-dimensional case the distribution of fluid displacement vectors has both elliptic and hyperbolic points, suggesting production of chaos. From the dye pattern in the three-dimensional case a solid model was roduced with a help of a sculpture artist. This process is looked upon as a new method of creating sculptures. At the same time the artist made up his own shape by hand inspired by the computed dye shape. Differences between the dye shape (scientific shape) and the hand made shape (artificial shape) are discussed.