Computational Geometry For Design And Manufacture

This text includes papers covering topics in geometry processing applications, such as surface-surface intersections and offset surfaces. Present methods fundamental to geometric modelling are highlighted.

Computational geometry is a borderline subject related to pure and applied mathematics, computer science, and engineering. The book contains articles on various topics in computational geometry based on invited lectures and contributed papers presented during the program on computational geometry at the Morningside Center of Mathematics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing). The opening article by R.-H. Wang gives a nice survey of various aspects of computational geometry, many of which are discussed in detail in the volume. Topics of the other articles include problems of optimal triangulation, splines, data interpolation, problems of curve and surface design, problems of shape control, quantum teleportation, and more. The book is suitable for graduate students and researchers interested in computational geometry and specialists in theoretical computer science.

Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) is concerned with all aspects of the process of designing, prototyping, manufacturing, inspecting, and maintaining complex geometric objects under computer control. As such, there is a natural synergy between this field and Computational Geometry (CG), which involves the design, analysis, implementation, and testing of efficient algorithms and data representation techniques for geometric entities such as points, polygons, polyhedra, curves, and surfaces. The DIMACS Center (Piscataway, NJ) sponsored a workshop to further promote the interaction between these two fields. Attendees from academia, research laboratories, and industry took part in the invited talks, contributed presentations, and informal discussions. This volume is an outgrowth of that meeting.

A new discipline is said to attain maturity when the subject matter takes the shape of a textbook. Several textbooks later, the discipline tends to acquire a firm place in the curriculum for teaching and learning. Computer Aided Engineering Design (CAED), barely three decades old, is interdisciplinary in nature whose boundaries are still expanding. However, it draws its core strength from several acknowledged and diverse areas such as computer graphics, differential geometry, Boolean algebra, computational geometry, topological spaces, numerical analysis, mechanics of solids, engineering design and a few others. CAED also needs to show its strong linkages with Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM). As is true with any growing discipline, the literature is widespread in research journals, edited books, and conference proceedings. Various textbooks have appeared with different biases, like geometric modeling, computer graphics, and CAD/CAM over the last decade. This book goes into mathematical foundations and the core subjects of CAED without allowing itself to be overshadowed by computer graphics. It is written in a logical and thorough manner for use mainly by senior and graduate level students as well as users and developers of CAD software. The book covers (a) The fundamental concepts of geometric modeling so that a real understanding of designing synthetic surfaces and solid modeling can be achieved. (b) A wide spectrum of CAED topics such as CAD of linkages and machine elements, finite element analysis, optimization. (c) Application of these methods to real world problems.

Content Description #Anthology selected from contributions to the First ACM Workshop on Applied Computational Geometry.#Includes bibliographical references and index.

Shape interrogation is the process of extraction of information from a geometric model. It is a fundamental component of Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) systems. This book provides a bridge between the areas geometric modeling and solid modeling. Apart from the differential geometry topics covered, the entire book is based on the unifying concept of recasting all shape interrogation problems to the solution of a nonlinear system. It provides the mathematical fundamentals as well as algorithms for various shape interrogation methods including nonlinear polynomial solvers, intersection problems, differential geometry of intersection curves, distance functions, curve and surface interrogation, umbilics and lines of curvature, and geodesics.