Three-Dimensinoal Constrained Delaunay Triangulation: A Minimalist Approach

Proceedings, 8th International Meshing Roundtable, South Lake Tahoe, CA, U.S.A., pp.119-129, October 1999

MESHING
RESEARCH
CORNER

Ulisses T. Mello
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, U.S.A
Email: ulisses@watson.ibm.com

Abstract
In this paper we summarize our experiences with 3D constrained Delaunay triangulation algorithms for industrial applications. In addition, we report a robust implementation process for constructing 3D con-strained triangulations from initial unconstrained triangulations, based on a minimalist approach, in which we minimize the use of geometrical operations such as intersections. This is achieved by inserting Steiner points on missing constraining edges and faces in the initial unconstrained triangulations. This approach allowed the generation of tetrahedral meshes for arbitrarily complex 3D domains.

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