Automatic mesh-healing technique for model repair and finite element model generation

Abstract

It has been accepted by many researchers that modification of a model is often a necessity as a precursor to effective mesh generation. However, editing the geometry directly is often found to be cumbersome, tedious and expensive. In preparing a CAD model for numerical simulation, one of the critical issues involves the rectification of geometrical and topological errors. Though visually insignificant, these errors hinder the creation of a valid finite element model with a good mesh quality. Most current state-of-the-art works have been trying to heal geometric models directly. The novelty of the method proposed in this paper is that the mesh-healing process includes both model repair and mesh generation in one black box. The mesh-healing algorithm essentially simplifies the problems of the imperfect models and allows one to deal with simple polygons rather than complex surface representations. This paper addresses errors such as gaps, overlaps, T-joints and simple holes. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.