OpenGL Flight Simulator

It's a C++ & OpenGL-based ambitious project to utilize real-time aerodynamic simulation and realistic volumetric cloud simulation.

🚀 Key Features

1. Multiscale Hybrid Aerodynamics: A high-fidelity physics engine combining Eulerian LBM (Local Grid) and Lagrangian Vortex Particles (Global Wake).
2. GPU-Driven Pipeline: Collision, streaming, and force calculations are fully offloaded to Compute Shaders.
3. Real-time Voxelization: Dynamic 3D model voxelization on the GPU for precise fluid-structure interaction (FSI).
4. Realistic Volumetric Clouds: Immersive weather simulation and daytime lighting.
5. Robust Physics: Integrated NaN-safety mechanisms and automatic fluid field stabilization.

🛠 Compilation & Execution

Dependencies

Install OpenGL and development libraries:

sudo apt-get install build-essential libgl1-mesa-dev libglu1-mesa-dev freeglut3-dev libglew-dev

Build

cmake . && make -j4

Run

• Main Simulator: ./flight_sim/flight_sim
• Physics Test (Karman Vortex Street): ./flight_sim/lbm_test
• Rendering Integrity Test: ./flight_sim/particle_test

🕹 Controls

Flight Control

• Thrust: W / S
• Pitch/Roll: Mouse Movement
• Camera Orbit: Mouse Drag (Test modes)

Environment & Debug

• Pause/Start: F1
• Debug Overlays: F2
• Reload Shaders: F3
• Move Sun: Q / E

🧬 Technical Highlights (Recent Refactor)

• Hybrid Solver: Implemented Layer 1 (Local LBM) and Layer 3 (Global Sparse Wake) as per REFACTOR.md.
• NaN-Safe Particles: Fixed a critical bug where particles would permanently disappear due to NaN values; added robust isnan() / isinf() checks and forced respawning in Compute Shaders.
• Optimized Resource Management: Introduced triSSBO caching for 3D models and GPU-side vertex transformation to eliminate CPU-GPU bottlenecks.
• Vertex Pulling Rendering: Utilized zero-copy rendering from SSBOs to display millions of tracer particles with dynamic tails.

📜 License & Declaration

This project is an experimental side project. All rights of specific source codes (gltools, math3D) are reserved by Richard S. Wright Jr. The F22 texture is by I. Mikhelevich. The cloudwork source code is under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.