Mesh-based geometry

A systematic approach to building a complete geometric and topologic representation of a model given only the nite element (FE) description is proposed. The objective of the proposed system is to provide a geometry foundation for existing nite element based models so that standard mesh generation tools can be used without requiring CAD-based modelling systems such as ACIS or other proprietary commercial tools. To accomplish this, a method for extracting topology from the FE model is proposed. Topology entities including volumes, surfaces, curves and vertices are built based on user-de ned boundary conditions and surface features. Curve and surface geometry is described by either linear triangular facets or G1 continuous 4th-order Bezier patches. Integration of the proposed mesh-based geometry (MBG) system into an existing mesh generation toolkit is described. Sample applications and examples of MBG are presented