Using Augmented Reality and Interactive Simulations to Realize Hybrid Prototypes

Engineers and designers of various product development fields show an increasing interest in rapid prototyping as these help them to optimize their products faster and more precise. In this work we present an Augmented Realty (AR) application with a model size water turbine in order to demonstrate how rapid prototyping with a hybrid prototype, simulation data of water flow characteristics and an optical AR tool can be realized. The application integrates interactive simulation, a tangible user interface and several interaction concepts for 3D CFD. Due to the intuitive and automated workflow as well as seamless process iterations, the application is easy to use by users without expert knowledge in the field of parallel simulations. Our approach points out the main benefit and problems of AR in rapid prototyping and thus is an example for further application fields.