We have developed a comprehensive framework for the modeling and simulation of smoke, fire, and general gaseous phenomena, both on surfaces and in 3D space, interacting with static and moving objects. Our approach uses the Lattice-Boltzmann Model (LBM) for fast propagation of these phenomena. The LBM is non-iterative and uses only local operations per grid update of the transient phenomena. It is therefore very attractive for acceleration on GPUs. Current applications are the modeling of gaseous substances in urban (homeland) security scenarios, the simulation of complex heat-originated phenomena for computer graphics, such as heat shimmering, melting, ablation, and smoke, and the simulation of other amorphous phenomena.

The topic of General purpose computing on programmable graphics hardware (GPGPU). but not confined to it. We have been using GPUs for various costly numerical simulation tasks (in addition to our acceleration of medical imaging algorithms), with speedups of 1-2 orders of magnitudes, while being able to use the GPU also to quickly visualize the (intermediate) results. This gives rise to the notion of visual simulation.

	Efficient LBM Visual Simulation on Face-Centered Cubic Lattices K. Petkov, F. Qiu, Z. Fan, A. Kaufman, K. Mueller IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 15(5): 802-814, 2009
	Lattice-based volumetric global illumination F. Qiu, F. Xu, Z. Fan, N. Neophytou, A. Kaufman, and K. Mueller IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 13(6):1576-1583, 2007
	Visual simulation of heat shimmering and mirage Y. Zhao, Y. Han, Z. Fan, F. Qiu, Y.-C. Kuo, A. Kaufman, and K. Mueller IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 179-189, 2007
	Melting and Flowing in Multiphase Environments Y. Zhao, L. Wang, F. Qiu, A. Kaufman, and K. Mueller Computers & Graphics vol. 30, no. 4, pp 519-528, 2006
	Accelerated Dispersion Simulation For Urban Security F. Qiu, Y. Zhao, Z. Fan, X. Wei, H. Lorenz, J. Wang, S. Yaokum-Stover, A. Kaufman, and K. Mueller IEEE Visualization '04 Austin, Texas, October 2004 pp. 553-560
	The Lattice-Boltzmann Method for gaseous phenomena X. Wei, W. Li, K . Mueller, and A. Kaufman IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 164-176,  2004
	Simulating fire with texture splats X. Wei, W. Li, K . Mueller, and A. Kaufman IEEE Visualization'02 Boston, October 2002 pp. 227-234