Building a Sweepable Topology

The hex meshing problem presents a number of additional challenges to the user that tetrahedral meshing does not. Where a good quality tetrahedral mesh can generally be created once small features and imprint/merge problems have been addressed, the hexahedral meshing problem poses additional topology constraints which must be met.

Although progress has been made in automating the hex meshing process, the most robust meshing algorithms still rely on geometric primitives. Mapping [Cook, 82] and sub-mapping [Whiteley, 96] algorithms rely on parametric cubes and sweeping[Knupp, 98; Scott, 05] relies on extrusions. Most real world geometries do not automatically fit into one of these categories so the topology must be changed to match the criteria for one of these meshing schemes. ITEM addresses the hex meshing topology problem through four primary diagnostic and solution mechanisms.

1. Detecting blend surfaces
2. Detecting and suggesting decomposition operations
3. Recognizing nearly sweepable topologies and suggesting source-target pairs
4. Detecting and compositing surfaces to force a sweep topology