An incremental algorithm to support geometric constraint satisfaction in engineering design

This paper presents a set of algorithms to efficiently support geometric constraint satisfaction during engineering design. Based upon an incremental graph construction approach, these algorithms satisfy each new inserted constraint by exploiting the degrees of freedom of the involved geometric entities. The objective is to avoid satisfying the entire constraint set from scratch due to a new constraint insertion. A prototype system has been developed and is presented to demonstrate the flexibility gained by the proposed incremental algorithms.