GEOMETRIC DETAIL SUPPRESSION BY THE FOURIER-TRANSFORM

As the Finite Element Method is widely used in strength analysis, auto matic mesh generation draws more attention these days. For a given geo metric tolerance value, the purpose of mesh generators is to discretiz e the continuous model within this error limit. Faithfulness to this c ondition produces many small elements at small features. Often, these regions are of little interest and computer resources are thus wasted. It is wished to suppress selectively, small features from the model b efore discretizing. This can be achieved by low-pass filtering a CAD m odel. A method to apply the techniques in signal processing to the man ipulation of a three-dimensional model is proposed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.