Diamond-based models for scientific visualization

Hierarchical spatial decompositions are a basic modeling tool in a variety of application domains including scientific visualization, finite element analysis and shape modeling and analysis. A popular class of such approaches is based on the regular simplex bisection operator, which bisects simplices (e.g. line segments, triangles, tetrahedra) along the midpoint of a predetermined edge. Regular simplex bisection produces adaptive simplicial meshes of high geometric quality, while simplifying the extraction of crack-free, or conforming, approximations to the original dataset. Efficient multiresolution representations for such models have been achieved in 2D and 3D by clustering sets of simplices sharing the same bisection edge into structures called diamonds. In this thesis, we introduce several diamond-based approaches for scientific visualization. We first formalize the notion of diamonds in arbitrary dimensions in terms of two related simplicial decompositions of hypercubes. This enables us to enumerate the vertices, simplices, parents and children of a diamond. In particular, we identify the number of simplices involved in conforming updates to be factorial in the dimension and group these into a linear number of subclusters of simplices that are generated simultaneously. The latter form the basis for a compact pointerless representation for conforming meshes generated by regular simplex bisection and for efficiently navigating the topological connectivity of these meshes. Secondly, we introduce the supercube as a high-level primitive on such nested meshes based on the atomic units within the underlying triangulation grid. We propose the use of supercubes to associate information with coherent subsets of the full hierarchy and demonstrate the effectiveness of such a representation for modeling multiresolution terrain and volumetric datasets. Next, we introduce Isodiamond Hierarchies, a general framework for spatial access structures on a hierarchy of diamonds that exploits the implicit hierarchical and geometric relationships of the diamond model. We use an isodiamond hierarchy to encode irregular updates to a multiresolution isosurface or interval volume in terms of regular updates to diamonds. Finally, we consider nested hypercubic meshes, such as quadtrees, octrees and their higher dimensional analogues, through the lens of diamond hierarchies. This allows us to determine the relationships involved in generating balanced hypercubic meshes and to propose a compact pointerless representation of such meshes. We also provide a local diamond-based triangulation algorithm to generate high-quality conforming simplicial meshes

ColDICE: a parallel Vlasov-Poisson solver using moving adaptive simplicial tessellation

Resolving numerically Vlasov-Poisson equations for initially cold systems can be reduced to following the evolution of a three-dimensional sheet evolving in six-dimensional phase-space. We describe a public parallel numerical algorithm consisting in representing the phase-space sheet with a conforming, self-adaptive simplicial tessellation of which the vertices follow the Lagrangian equations of motion. The algorithm is implemented both in six- and four-dimensional phase-space. Refinement of the tessellation mesh is performed using the bisection method and a local representation of the phase-space sheet at second order relying on additional tracers created when needed at runtime. In order to preserve in the best way the Hamiltonian nature of the system, refinement is anisotropic and constrained by measurements of local Poincar\'e invariants. Resolution of Poisson equation is performed using the fast Fourier method on a regular rectangular grid, similarly to particle in cells codes. To compute the density projected onto this grid, the intersection of the tessellation and the grid is calculated using the method of Franklin and Kankanhalli (1993) generalised to linear order. As preliminary tests of the code, we study in four dimensional phase-space the evolution of an initially small patch in a chaotic potential and the cosmological collapse of a fluctuation composed of two sinusoidal waves. We also perform a "warm" dark matter simulation in six-dimensional phase-space that we use to check the parallel scaling of the code.Comment: Code and illustration movies available at: http://www.vlasix.org/index.php?n=Main.ColDICE - Article submitted to Journal of Computational Physic

Local refinement based on the 7-triangle longest-edge partition

The triangle longest-edge bisection constitutes an efficient scheme for refining a mesh by reducing the obtuse triangles, since the largest interior angles are subdivided. In this paper we specifically introduce a new local refinement for triangulations based on the longest-edge trisection, the 7-triangle longest-edge (7T-LE) local refinement algorithm. Each triangle to be refined is subdivided in seven sub-triangles by determining its longest edge. The conformity of the new mesh is assured by an automatic point insertion criterion using the oriented 1-skeleton graph of the triangulation and three partial division patterns

On global and local mesh refinements by a generalized conforming bisection algorithm

We examine a generalized conforming bisection (GCB-)algorithm which allows both global and local nested refinements of the triangulations without generating hanging nodes. It is based on the notion of a mesh density function which prescribes where and how much to refine the mesh. Some regularity properties of generated sequences of refined triangulations are proved. Several numerical tests demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed bisection algorithm. It is also shown how to modify the GCB-algorithm in order to generate anisotropic meshes with high aspect ratios

Adaptive boundary element methods with convergence rates

This paper presents adaptive boundary element methods for positive, negative, as well as zero order operator equations, together with proofs that they converge at certain rates. The convergence rates are quasi-optimal in a certain sense under mild assumptions that are analogous to what is typically assumed in the theory of adaptive finite element methods. In particular, no saturation-type assumption is used. The main ingredients of the proof that constitute new findings are some results on a posteriori error estimates for boundary element methods, and an inverse-type inequality involving boundary integral operators on locally refined finite element spaces.Comment: 48 pages. A journal version. The previous version (v3) is a bit lengthie