Solid Modeling and Fault Tolerant Meshing - Two Complementary Strategies

The advantages of coupling fault tolerant meshing with the implementation of a solid model CAD representation for the creation of watertight, unstructured, surface meshes are presented. The underlying theory, benefits and limitations of both strategies are discussed. Finally, the steps involved in surface meshing a realistic geometry are analyzed, illustrating that the synergy of merging the two techniques results in a powerful tool able to utilize the advantages present in both methods.