Using Virtual Topology to Simplify the Mesh Generation Process

AMD-Vol. 220 Trends in Unstructured Mesh Generation, ASME, pp.45-50, July 1997

MESHING
RESEARCH
CORNER

Fluent Inc., 500 Davis Street #600, Evanston, IL 60201
e-mail: ted@fluent.com
Institute of Computer Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
e-mail: sheffa@cs.huji.ac.il

presented at
The 1997 Joint ASME/ASCE/SES Summer Meeting
June 29-July 2, 1997
Northwestern University
Evanston Illinois

Abstract
The use of geometry based analysis requires geometries which are 1) topologically valid solids, 2) suitable for the analysis objectives and refinements required and 3) meshable using available algorithms. Modifications of the model are thus often a necessity as a precursor to effective mesh generation. Editing the geometry directly (e.g. surface redefinitions) is cumbersome, tedious, and expensive. Using virtual topology, such clean- up operations are handled as modifications to the topology only, thus providing easy detail suppression, flexible geometry decomposition, and effective "dirty" geometry clean- up.