4th Honours Project - N-Body Simulation
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N-body simulations have been developed over many years with numerous improvements achieved using various algorithms to increase efficiency and lower computational costs. Most of these simulations rarely account for the rotational movement or collisions between these bodies. Computer Games have become adept at simulating rotations and collisions. By looking at the techniques and optimisations used in N-body Simulations is there a way to implement Collisions and Rotations into an N-body simulation efficiently.
A base n-body simulation that is simulating asteroids under the influence of gravity. The simulation takes a brute force approach to calculate the total force acting upon a body. This is achieved by looping through every other body and calculating it’s affect on the current body being evaluated. The simulation employs two numerical methods to solve Newton's equations of motion Runge-Kutta 4th Order Method and Semi Implicit Euler Method. These particular methods were chosen as they opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of accuracy and speed. From the efficiency of numerical methods, such as the Verlet Algorithm, that lay between these two can be approximated.
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This project implements collisions in two phases to increase efficiency;
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