Schauberger Vortex Flow Visualizer

Schauberger Vortex Flow Visualizer

Produces a real-time 3D visualization of Viktor Schauberger's implosion water-vortex system — the "living water" motion that spirals inward along a hyperbolic path, cools as it implodes, and generates the suction force Schauberger observed in mountain streams and engineered into his egg-shaped vessels. Built on Three.js r182+, React Three Fiber v9, TSL shaders, and GPU particles.

When to Use

• User asks to visualize Schauberger's vortex, living water, implosion flow, or nature-aligned fluid dynamics
• User wants to render an egg-shaped implosion vessel with animated interior flow
• A 3D demonstration of centripetal vs. centrifugal fluid motion is needed
• User is building an educational tool around biomimetic or nature-inspired engineering
• User wants to show temperature-stratified flow or the trout-curve velocity profile in 3D

Process

1. Egg-vessel geometry:

   • Construct the characteristic Schauberger egg shape using a LatheGeometry built from a parametric profile curve (wider at the base, narrowing to a point at the top) — this is the vessel cross-section revolved 360°
   • Render the shell with MeshTransmissionMaterial (Drei): transmission: 0.85, roughness: 0.02, thickness: 0.4, tinted blue-green to suggest water glass
   • Add a subtle WireframeGeometry overlay at low opacity to reveal the vessel's hyperbolic curvature

2. Spiral vortex particle flow:

   • Generate 80 000 particles tracing the hyperbolic inward spiral path inside the vessel
   • Each particle follows: r(t) = r₀ · e^(−k·t), θ(t) = ω·t, z(t) = z₀ − v_z·t — a 3D logarithmic implosion spiral computed entirely in the TSL vertex shader
   • Color particles by temperature (deep blue = cold center, warm green-gold = outer warmer layer) using a DataTexture temperature LUT
   • Vary k, ω, v_z per particle via Float32Array attributes to produce the characteristic laminar-to-coherent flow structure

3. Trout-curve velocity profile:

   • Render a cross-section velocity field as a 2D DataTexture heat overlay on a clipping plane through the vessel midpoint
   • Use a ShaderMaterial that maps local flow speed to color: fast core (white), mid-band (cyan), slow outer wall (deep blue) — mimicking the parabolic-to-hyperbolic velocity profile Schauberger measured in trout streams

4. Temperature stratification layers:

   • Render concentric RingGeometry cross-sections inside the vessel at five temperature isotherms
   • Each ring's ShaderMaterial uses a sin(time + phaseOffset) undulation to simulate the pulsing thermal stratification in vortex flow
   • Color from 4 °C (maximum-density, deepest blue) outward to ambient temperature (warm green)

5. Implosion suction effect:

   • At the vessel apex (top narrowing point) render a converging ConeGeometry with a pulsing emissive ShaderMaterial to represent the implosion suction node
   • Add a PointLight at the apex (color #aaddff, intensity 0.5 + 0.3·sin(time·3)) to illuminate the convergence zone
   • Trail 5 000 fast-moving "suction filament" particles that accelerate exponentially toward the apex

6. Post-processing:

   • Bloom (threshold 0.4, intensity 1.2) for the cold luminous vortex core
   • DepthOfField (focusDistance 0.5, focalLength 0.02, bokehScale 3) to focus on the vessel interior
   • Subtle Vignette to frame the vessel

7. Runtime controls (lil-gui):

   • flow_rate (0.1–5) — scales v_z, the axial advection speed
   • spiral_tightness (0.01–0.5) — controls k, the radial implosion coefficient
   • rotation_speed (0.1–10 rad/s) — angular velocity ω of the vortex
   • temperature_gradient (0–1) — intensity of the thermal color stratification
   • particle_count (10k–200k) — flow particle density
   • Toggles: show_velocity_field, show_isotherms, show_suction_node, show_vessel_shell

Output Format

SchaubergerScene/
├── SchaubergerScene.jsx
├── components/
│   ├── EggVessel.jsx           ← LatheGeometry transmission shell
│   ├── SpiralParticleFlow.jsx  ← Points + TSL implosion spiral shader
│   ├── VelocityField.jsx       ← DataTexture cross-section heatmap
│   ├── ThermalIsotherms.jsx    ← RingGeometry temperature bands
│   ├── ImplosionApex.jsx       ← Converging cone + suction filaments
│   └── PostFX.jsx
├── shaders/
│   ├── implosionSpiral.tsl.js  ← TSL logarithmic implosion spiral
│   └── temperatureLUT.js       ← DataTexture 4°C→ambient color map
└── controls/gui.js

Boundaries

• Do NOT model the vortex as centrifugal (outward) — Schauberger's key insight is centripetal (inward) implosion; always spiral inward toward the axis and apex.
• Do NOT allocate new geometry per frame — update BufferGeometry attribute arrays in place.
• Do NOT use WebGPURenderer as the primary renderer — use it only for the optional particle compute layer.
• Always present Schauberger's theoretical claims as historically documented observations and engineering experiments, not peer-reviewed fluid dynamics.