The study of the behavior of lava flows plays an important role in predicting, preventing and reducing the consequences of volcanic eruptions. Lava has been used as a building material for centuries and has been a source of nutrients for agriculture, but lava flows remain a threat to human activities.
The model of spreading of a viscous inhomogeneous incompressible fluid under the action of gravitational forces is used to describe the lava flow process. The mathematical model is described by the Navier-Stokes equation and the continuity equation with the corresponding initial and boundary conditions. The model takes into account the variable viscosity of the lava, which depends on the volume fraction of crystals.
As a spreading surface, we use the generated topography, which is a realistic slope of a mountainous area, formed taking into account natural geological processes. Numerical simulation is carried out using the meshless SPH method. The results of several model cases of lava flows over the surface are presented.
Simulation results are visualized using our custom-developed Cinema Science 3D approach. It allows a custom 3D visualization to be programmed using simple CSV file. We used it for presenting our results in a natural view, showing underlying terrain as mesh and lava as points, moving and changing according to time and other computation parameters. This view was enough for achieving visualization aims of our research.