On Monotone Sequences of Directed Flips, Triangulations of Polyhedra, and Structural Properties of a Directed Flip Graph

This paper studied the geometric and combinatorial aspects of the classical Lawson's flip algorithm in 1972. Let A be a finite set of points in R2, omega be a height function which lifts the vertices of A into R3. Every flip in triangulations of A can be associated with a direction. We first established a relatively obvious relation between monotone sequences of directed flips between triangulations of A and triangulations of the lifted point set of A in R3. We then studied the structural properties of a directed flip graph (a poset) on the set of all triangulations of A. We proved several general properties of this poset which clearly explain when Lawson's algorithm works and why it may fail in general. We further characterised the triangulations which cause failure of Lawson's algorithm, and showed that they must contain redundant interior vertices which are not removable by directed flips. A special case if this result in 3d has been shown by B.Joe in 1989. As an application, we described a simple algorithm to triangulate a special class of 3d non-convex polyhedra. We proved sufficient conditions for the termination of this algorithm and show that it runs in O(n3) time.Comment: 40 pages, 35 figure

On monotone sequences of directed flips, triangulations of polyhedra, and structural properties of a directed flip graph

This paper studied the geometric and combinatorial aspects of the classical Lawson's flip algorithm  [21, 22]. Let A be a finite point set in R^2 and ω : A → R be a height function which lifts the vertices of A into R^3. Every flip in triangulations of A can be assigned a direction [6, Definition 6.1.1]. A sequence of directed flips is monotone if all its flips follow the same direction. We first established a relatively obvious relation between monotone sequences of directed flips on triangulations of A and triangulations of the lifted point set A^ω in R^3. We then studied the structural properties of a directed flip graph (a poset) on the set of all triangulations of A. We proved several general properties of this poset which clearly explain when Lawson's algorithm works and why it may fail in general. We further characterised the triangulations which cause failure of Lawson's algorithm, and showed that they must contain redundant interior vertices which are not removable by directed flips. A special case of this result in 3d has been shown in [19]. As an application, we described a simple algorithm to triangulate a special class of 3d non-convex polyhedra without using additional vertices. We prove sufficient conditions for the termination of this algorithm, and show it runs in O(n^3) time, where $n$ is the number of input vertices

The existence of triangulations of non-convex polyhedra without new vertices

It is well known that a simple three-dimensional non-convex polyhedron may not be triangulated without using new vertices (so-called {\it Steiner points}). In this paper, we prove a condition that guarantees the existence of a triangulation of a non-convex polyhedron (of any dimension) without Steiner points. We briefly discuss algorithms for efficiently triangulating three-dimensional polyhedra

TetGen: A quality tetrahedral mesh generator and a 3D Delaunay triangulator (Version 1.5 — User’s Manual)

TetGen is a software for tetrahedral mesh generation. Its goal is to generate good quality tetrahedral meshes suitable for numerical methods and scientific computing. It can be used as either a standalone program or a library component integrated in other software. The purpose of this document is to give a brief explanation of the kind of tetrahedralizations and meshing problems handled by TetGen and to give a fairly detailed documentation about the usage of the program. Readers will learn how to create tetrahedral meshes using input files from the command line. Furthermore, the programming interface for calling TetGen from other programs is explained

Adaptive tetrahedral mesh generation by constrained delaunay refinement

This paper discusses the problem of refining a constrained Delaunay tetrahedralization (CDT) for adaptive numerical simulation. A simple and efficient algorithm which makes use of the classical Delaunay refinement scheme is proposed. It generates an isotropic tetrahedral mesh corresponding to a sizing function which can be either user-specified or automatically derived from the input CDT. The quality of the produced meshes is guaranteed, i.e., most output tetrahedra have their circumradius-to-shortest-edge ratios bounded except those in the neighborhood of small input angles. Good mesh conformity can be obtained for smoothly changing sizing information. The algorithm has been implemented. Various examples are provided to illustrate its theoretical aspects as well as practical performance

TetGen, towards a quality tetrahedral mesh generator

TetGen is a C++ program for generating quality tetrahedral meshes aimed to support numerical methods and scientific computing. It is also a research project for studying the underlying mathematical problems and evaluating algorithms. This paper presents the essential meshing components developed in TetGen for robust and efficient software implementation. And it highlights the state-of-the-art algorithms and technologies currently implemented and developed in TetGen for automatic quality tetrahedral mesh generation

Constrained Delaunay tetrahedral mesh generation and refinement

A {\it constrained Delaunay tetrahedralization} of a domain in $\mathbb{R}^3$ is a tetrahedralization such that it respects the boundaries of this domain, and it has properties similar to those of a Delaunay tetrahedralization. Such objects have various applications such as finite element analysis, computer graphics rendering, geometric modeling, and shape analysis. This article is devoted to presenting recent developments on constrained Delaunay tetrahedralizations of piecewise linear domains. The focus is for the application of numerically solving partial differential equations using finite element or finite volume methods. We survey various related results and detail two core algorithms that have provable guarantees and are amenable to practical implementation. We end this article by listing a set of open questions

On decomposition of embedded prismatoids in R3R^3 without additional points

This paper considers three-dimensional prismatoids which can be embedded in ℝ³ A subclass of this family are twisted prisms, which includes the family of non-triangulable Scönhardt polyhedra [12, 10]. We call a prismatoid decomposable if it can be cut into two smaller prismatoids (which have smaller volumes) without using additional points. Otherwise it is indecomposable. The indecomposable property implies the non-triangulable property of a prismatoid but not vice versa. In this paper we prove two basic facts about the decomposability of embedded prismatoid in ℝ³ with convex bases. Let P be such a prismatoid, call an edge interior edge of P if its both endpoints are vertices of P and its interior lies inside P. Our first result is a condition to characterise indecomposable twisted prisms. It states that a twisted prism is indecomposable without additional points if and only if it allows no interior edge. Our second result shows that any embedded prismatoid in ℝ³ with convex base polygons can be decomposed into the union of two sets (one of them may be empty): a set of tetrahedra and a set of indecomposable twisted prisms, such that all elements in these two sets have disjoint interiors

TetGen. A 3D Delaunay tetrahedral mesh generator. v.1.2 Users manual

This technical report describes the main features and the using of TetGen, a 3D Delaunay tetrahedral mesh generator. Based on the most recent developments in mesh generation algorithms, this program has been specifically designed to fulfill the task of automatically generating high quality tetrahedral meshes, which are suitable for scientific computing using numerical methods such as finite element and finite volume methods. In this document, the user will learn how to create 3D tetrahedral meshes using TetGen's input files and command line switches. Various examples were given for better understanding. This document describes the features of the version 1.2

Adaptive tetrahedral mesh generation by constrained Delaunay refinement

This paper discusses the problem of refining a constrained Delaunay tetrahedralization (CDT) for adaptive numerical simulation. A simple and efficient algorithm which makes use of the classical Delaunay refinement scheme is proposed. It generates an isotropic tetrahedral mesh corresponding to a sizing function which can be either user-specified or automatically derived from the input CDT. The quality of the produced meshes is guaranteed, i.e., most output tetrahedra have their circumradius-to-shortest-edge ratios bounded except those in the neighborhood of small input angles. Good mesh conformity can be obtained for smoothly changing sizing information. The algorithm has been implemented. Various examples are provided to illustrate its theoretical aspects as well as practical performance