Octree-Based Automatic Mesh Generation for Non-Manifold Domains
Mukul Saxena, Peter M. Finnigan, Catherine M. Graichen, Alan F. Hathaway, Vijayan Parthasarathy · 1991
Abstract Automatic mesh generation from solid models heretofore has been confined to manifold objects only. While manifold objects are the most commonly encountered domains in many applications, other applications such as those requiring multiple material models and mixed-model representations (combination of 1-D, 2-D and 3-D domains), fall beyond the realm of the existing automatic meshing procedures as they require a non-conventional modeling environment, namely the non-manifold topology (NMT) based environment. This paper focuses on automatic mesh generation issues in the context of two such applications: (i) finite element modeling for multiple material models and (ii) geometric abstractions requiring a mixed-model representation. Specifically, the paper describes a geometry utility system, built around a NMT data structure and geometry-based meshing algorithms that ensure the validity of the mesh for non-manifold domains.