An optimization method for elastic shape matching

This note addresses the following shape matching problem: given a ‘template’ shape, numerically described by means of a computational mesh, and a ‘target’ shape, known only via a signed distance function to its boundary, we aim at deforming iteratively the mesh of the template shape into a computational mesh of the target shape. To achieve this goal, we rely on techniques from shape optimization. Under the sole assumption that both shapes share the same topology, the desired transformation is realized as a sequence of elastic displacements, which are obtained by minimizing an energy functional based on the distance between the two shapes. The proposed method has been implemented in a finite elements setting and numerical examples in two and three dimensions are presented to illustrate its efficiency.