frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Made with ♥ by @iamnishanth

Open Source @Github

Open in hackernews

Show HN: Olelo Foil - NACA Airfoil Sim

https://foil.olelohonua.com/
24•rbrownmh•4h ago
Hi HN!

A while back, I started exploring ways to make aerodynamic simulation more interactive and visual for the web. I wanted something that felt immediate—intuitive enough for students, fast enough for hobbyists, and hackable enough for engineers. That’s how Olelo Foil was born.

Foil is a browser-based airfoil simulator written in JavaScript using Three.js and WebGL. It lets you interactively explore how airfoils behave under different conditions, all rendered in real time. Right now, it uses simplified fluid models, but I’m working toward integrating Navier-Stokes for more accurate simulations—and I’d love help from anyone interested in fluid dynamics, GPU compute, or numerical solvers.

I’m also building Olelo Honua, an educational platform focused on Hawaiian STEM content and digital tools. Foil is one piece of that larger vision—bringing STEM education into the browser with open, accessible tools.

Check it out, and if you're interested in collaborating (especially on the physics side), I’d love to connect!

Comments

hbrav•3h ago
I have a background in fluid dynamics and may be interested in helping with this. Is there a way for me to contact you?
rbrownrw8•3h ago
Do you have Reddit by chance? Feel free to DM me u/Creative_Walrus_5197
rbrownrw8•3h ago
(and I'll give you my email just want to avoid too much spam)
hbrav•3h ago
I've sent you a message.
addaon•1h ago
Unless you're planning to resolve the boundary layer and model separation (good luck...), you'd probably be better off using panel methods than NS. Look at XFoil or JavaFoil for available implementations.
addaon•1h ago
Also, it looks like you might have a bug in generating the airfoil shape. An airfoil like the 8412, while extreme, is well-defined and constructible from NACA-style combination of thickness and camber forms; but you show it as having a "kink" on the bottom surface, which is definitely not correct.
observationist•26m ago
841220 is interesting, if you want to see what a borg cube aerodynamics might look like.
rbrownmh•15m ago
LOL and it's also completely vertical
rbrownmh•11m ago
Good catch - I'll look into fixing this. thanks!
rbrownmh•12m ago
I just pushed an update using spalart-allmaras turbulence model (somewhere in between NS and panel methods). Also updated the controls to use arrow keys :)
ge96•40m ago
Oh damn that's trippy how you can move the camera haha I am the airfoil

0990 chonker

observationist•23m ago
For those of us who didn't know what these were, you can specify a 4 digit code that corrrelates with an airfoil shape, and here's how it works.

http://airfoiltools.com/airfoil/naca4digit

rbrownmh•3m ago
Figure I'd drop this here - some other projects I'm working on currently:

Seafloor LOD (infinite terrain generator): https://github.com/kanakawai-maui/seafloor-lod

Olelo Honua (free LLM-enabled translation tool): https://github.com/kanakawai-maui/olelo-honua

Show HN: I made IP-to-Geo location data library for developers

https://ip2geo.framer.website/
1•bfzli•3m ago•0 comments

Learn in newer, deeper ways with Gemini

https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/education/google-gemini-learnlm-update/
1•bundie•3m ago•0 comments

How customer feedback surveys perpetuate workplace inequality

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-customer-feedback-surveys-perpetuate-workplace-inequality/
1•hn_acker•4m ago•0 comments

An AI-generated summer reading list got published in major newspapers

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/20/nx-s1-5405022/fake-summer-reading-list-ai
1•ripe•5m ago•0 comments

Gemini AI app has 400M monthly active users

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/20/googles-gemini-ai-app-has-400m-monthly-active-users/
1•mfiguiere•5m ago•0 comments

Autonomous vehicles could change cities

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-autonomous-vehicles-could-change-cities/
2•hn_acker•6m ago•0 comments

Gemini Diffusion: Google DeepMind's experimental research model

https://blog.google/technology/google-deepmind/gemini-diffusion/
1•polyrand•7m ago•0 comments

Word Vomits (2012-2025)

https://visakanv.com/1000/about/
1•nivethan•7m ago•0 comments

Benchmarking LLMs: A guide to AI model evaluation

https://www.techtarget.com/searchsoftwarequality/tip/Benchmarking-LLMs-A-guide-to-AI-model-evaluation
1•MarcoDewey•8m ago•0 comments

AI Mode is obviously the future of Google Search

https://www.theverge.com/google-io/670439/google-ai-mode-search-io-2025
1•bundie•9m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Rent vs. Buy Calculator

https://rentvsbuy.io
2•sbaidon94•10m ago•0 comments

Photos in a Similar Style Aren't Copyright-Infringing–Woodland vs. Lil Nas X

https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2025/05/photos-in-a-similar-style-arent-copyright-infringing-woodland-v-lil-nas-x.htm
2•hn_acker•10m ago•0 comments

Show HN: New AI tools for learning and education

https://raugen.com/ai-tools/education-tools
1•raugen•11m ago•0 comments

Show HN: First AppServer built for deploying containerized apps

https://clace.io/
1•ajayvk•11m ago•1 comments

Milei shutters office investigating cryptogate $LIBRA scandal

https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/argentina/milei-shuts-office-investigating-cryptogate-libra-scandal.phtml
3•hbartab•11m ago•1 comments

Microsoft Open Sources GitHub Copilot in VS Code

https://www.theleftshift.com/microsoft-open-sources-github-copilot-vscode/
1•01-_-•12m ago•0 comments

Show HN: I solo built OpenAI Codex 3 days before launch

https://nuraml.com/blog/vibe-1
2•guy_ross•18m ago•0 comments

Quantum Picturalism

https://quantuminpictures.org/
1•mathgenius•19m ago•0 comments

Show HN: The Money Company – Talk to your bank in plain English

https://www.thecompany.money
1•mafiaboi•20m ago•2 comments

Palworld patching out features as it seeks to invalidate Pokémon patents

https://www.techdirt.com/2025/05/14/palworld-patching-out-more-gameplay-features-as-it-seeks-to-invalidate-nintendo-pokemon-patents/
2•namanyayg•21m ago•0 comments

What we in the open world are messing up in trying to compete with big tech

https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/what-the-open-world-must-do-better/
2•namanyayg•21m ago•0 comments

1,700-year-old wooden water pipe unearthed in Belgium

https://www.sustainability-times.com/research/roman-engineering-lives-on-1700-year-old-wooden-water-pipe-unearthed-in-belgium-stuns-archaeologists-with-pristine-detail/
2•namanyayg•21m ago•0 comments

Mining Without a Bill: The Revenue Share Advantage

https://gridlesscompute.com/2025/02/07/mining-without-a-bill-the-revenue-share-advantage/
1•dotcoma•26m ago•0 comments

Evaluation of Engineering Artificial General Intelligence

https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.10653
2•nkko•26m ago•0 comments

The AI Con

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/may/19/the-ai-con-by-emily-m-bender-and-alex-hanna-review-debunking-myths-of-the-ai-revolution
1•chrisjj•27m ago•0 comments

'Big Beautiful Bill' would create a regulation-free AI hellscape, AGs warn

https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/20/trump_bill_regulation_free_ai/
3•rntn•31m ago•0 comments

Google I/O 2025: From research to reality

https://blog.google/technology/ai/io-2025-keynote/
2•badmonster•31m ago•0 comments

How Elite Athletes Train Their Eyes to See the World in Slow Motion

https://www.wsj.com/science/biology/sports-vision-training-reflexes-06a466e5
2•impish9208•31m ago•1 comments

Ideological warfare: Student builds AI tool to deradicalize extremists on Reddit

https://www.neowin.net/news/ideological-warfare-student-builds-ai-tool-to-de-radicalize-extremists-on-reddit/
1•bundie•31m ago•0 comments

Please Drone Responsibly: C-UAS Legislation Needs Civil Liberties Safeguards

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/05/please-drone-responsibly-c-uas-legislation-needs-civil-liberties-safeguards
1•hn_acker•33m ago•0 comments