Surface triangulation over intersecting geometries

A method for the rapid construction of meshes over intersecting triangulate d shapes is described. The method is based on an algorithm that automatical ly generates a surface mesh from intersecting triangulated surfaces by mean s of Boolean intersection/union operations. After the intersection of indiv idual components is obtained, the exposed surface parts are extracted. The algorithm is intended for rapid interactive construction of non-trivial sur faces in engineering design, manufacturing, visualization and molecular mod elling applications. Techniques to make the method fast and general are des cribed. The proposed algorithm is demonstrated on a number of examples, inc luding intersections of multiple spheres, planes and general engineering sh apes, as well as generation of surface and volume meshes around clusters of intersecting components followed by the computation of flow field paramete rs. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.