Towards a High Quality Shrink Wrap Mesh Generation Algorithm Using Mathematical Morphology

Abstract

Various computational fluid dynamic simulations in engineering, such as external aerodynamics, only need the silhouette of an input geometry. Often, it is a laborious process that can take up many human hours. In addition, the CAD geometries are too complex and contain intricate features and topological holes. We showcase an effortless way to shrink-wrap triangulated surfaces with the sole intent of topology and surface simplification. Building upon the concepts of mathematical morphology and newer advancements in geometry processing, we present a straightforward and robust algorithm that can guarantee genus-zero surfaces. Our techniques are equally applicable to general polyhedral meshes and well-suited for handling both oriented and unoriented point clouds. We provide examples using unoriented point clouds to demonstrate the versatility of our algorithms. We have designed our algorithms with a wide variety of applications in mind. However, we specifically highlight their capability for aerodynamic simulations, fluid volume extraction, and surface simplification. Additionally, we emphasize the practicality and ease of implementing the proposed algorithms, and we chain additional algorithms to develop variants of our wrap algorithm.