Interactive Odor Playback Based on Fluid Dynamics Simulation

This article describes the experiments on an interactive application of an olfactory display system into which computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is incorporated. In the proposed system, the olfactory display is used to add special effects to movies and virtual reality systems by releasing odors relevant to the scenes shown on the computer screen. To provide high-presence olfactory stimuli to the users, a model of the environment shown in the scene is provided to a CFD solver. The airflow field in the environment and the dispersal of odor molecules from their source are then calculated. An odor blender is used to generate the odor with the concentration determined based on the calculated odor distribution. In the experiments, a virtual room was presented on a PC monitor, and the panel were asked to stroll in the room to find an odor source. The results showed the effectiveness of the CFD simulation in reproducing the spatial distribution of the odor in the virtual space.