Sculpting: An Improved Inside-Out Scheme for All-Hexahedral Meshing

Proceedings, 11th International Meshing Roundtable, Sandia National Laboratories, pp.153-160, September 15-18 2002

MESHING
RESEARCH
CORNER

11th International Meshing Roundtable
Ithaca, New York, USA
September 15-18, 2002

Kirk Walton and Steven E. Benzley
Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
ksw@et.byu.edu, seb@et.byu.edu

Jason F. Shepherd
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM
jfsheph@sandia.gov

Abstract
Inside-out algorithms provide the ability to generate all hexahedral meshes by first introducing a structured mesh that bounds the complete body modeled, then secondly by manipulating the exterior of this structured mesh to fit the specific boundary of the body. Such algorithms generally provide high quality meshes on the interior of the body but suffer with lower quality elements on the boundary. The sculpting algorithm as presented here, addresses the difficulty in forming quality near boundary elements in two ways. The algorithm first introduces new methods to define an initial structured mesh and second uses collapsing templates to reposition boundary elements to conform to the geometric topology prior to smoothing elements to the boundary. The algorithm also provides the ability to subdivide the original object into sub-regions such that complex geometries can be meshed.

Download Full Paper (Postscript Format)