Okay, without looking at the algorithm directly (which I will do shortly),
here is my take from a physics standpoint.  Then I can see what you have and
whether this is useful or not to you.
    Imagine the body of undisturbed water as a set of blocks.  Each block will
have a height.  Now, no matter what is done (without adding or removing water),
we know that the average height of all blocks must remain constant at all times.
    Now, let's look at waves and ripples.  You can model them as an array of
scalars, and each location of the array is applied to the array of blocks to
alter their heights.  This array describes how the water surface will change
from moment to moment.
    But now, we see that a third array, one that modifies the scalars, is
needed.  It controls the viscosity (as a single parameter for the whole body of
water at once) and the damping factor and it stores the modifiers for the
scalars.  This second derivative is where the action would be.
    But when we turn it on its head, this array is really the "water" so to
speak, and the scalars are its first derivative, and the water surface is the
second derivative, and it is completely dictated by it.  If you make fixed
points in this third array, it will automatically "fix" the overflows, I would
think.
    I am going to continue to consider this and see if I can make a useful
"wireframe" animation in realtime first.  Then it should be written in C or
something and done on the computer screen directly.  Then the addition of water
becomes a volume added to a point and its velocity or energy, and the rest will
follow from there.
    Or maybe I am a complete loon...

Cheers!

Chip Shults
My robotics, space and CGI web page - http://home.cfl.rr.com/aichip

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