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Medial hex-meshing: high-quality all-hexahedral mesh generation based on medial mesh

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Abstract

Automatic high-quality all-hexahedral mesh generation is still a challenging problem in engineering applications. In this paper, based on the manifold curve/surface-mixed medial axis representation, we propose a new high-quality all-hex mesh generation method. Given an input watertight model, we first compute the corresponding medial mesh via the medial axis transform simplification method. Then, we build the all-hexahedral layer on the surface skeleton of the medial mesh via cross-field-guided quad-meshing and extrusion, and construct the hex-mesh elements for the curve skeleton of the medial mesh via sweeping approach. Based on the topological and geometrical information of the medial mesh, the initial hexahedral mesh can be obtained. Furthermore, with the iterative volumetric subdivision fitting approach, the hexahedral mesh is fitted to the input model. Finally, padding refinement and mesh optimization method are used to improve the element quality. In order to enhance the robustness and applicability of the proposed method, an interactive framework is also presented to handle non-manifold medial mesh. To show the efficiency of the proposed method, we have extensively tested our method on a lot of models. Compared with existing hexahedral mesh generation methods, our method can generate all-hex meshes with simpler singular structure, better element quality, and smaller element numbers. The code and data will be made available online to foster future research in this field.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the anonymous referee for a very careful reading and very detailed and valuable comments/suggestions. The hex-meshes of [38] used for comparison are provided from Dr. Ran Ling.

Funding

This research was supported by the National Key R &D Program of China under Grant No. 2020YFB1709402, the Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Program in China under Grant 2021C01108, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. U22A2033, 62202130, U1909210), the Graduate Scientific Research Foundation of Hangzhou Dianzi University, the Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Program in China (No. LQ22F020026).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Computer Science and Technology, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, 310018, Zhejiang, China

    Sheng Zhang, Gang Xu, Haiyan Wu, Renshu Gu & Long Qi

  2. Key Laboratory of Discrete Industrial Internet of Things of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310018, Zhejiang, China

    Gang Xu

  3. China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center, Mianyang, 621000, Sichuan, China

    Yufei Pang

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  1. Sheng Zhang
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  2. Gang Xu
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Correspondence to Gang Xu or Haiyan Wu.

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Zhang, S., Xu, G., Wu, H. et al. Medial hex-meshing: high-quality all-hexahedral mesh generation based on medial mesh. Engineering with Computers (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00366-023-01925-5

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