
Review of a B-spline based Volumetric Representation: Design, Analysis and Fabrication of Porous and/or Heterogeneous Geometries
Please login to view abstract download link
The needs of modern (additive) manufacturing (AM) technologies can no longer be satisfied by geometric modeling tools that are based on boundary representations (B-reps) - AM requires the representation and manipulation of interior heterogeneous fields and materials. Further, while the need for a tight coupling between design and analysis has been recognized as crucial almost since geometric modeling (GM) was conceived, contemporary GM systems only offer a loose link between the two, if at all. For more than half a century, the (trimmed) Non-Uniform Rational B-spline (NURBs) surface representation has been the B-rep of choice for virtually all the GM industry. Fundamentally, B-rep GM has evolved little during this period. In this presentation, we will review more than a decade of research and development in extending this boundary representation to a B-spline based, volumetric representation (V-rep) that successfully confronts the existing and anticipated design, analysis, and manufacturing foreseen challenges. We have extended all fundamental B-rep GM operations, such as primitive and surface constructors, and Boolean operations, to trimmed trivariate V-reps. This facilitates the much-needed tight link between the designed geometry and (iso-geometric) analysis on one hand and the full support of (additive) manufacturing of porous, (graded-) heterogeneous and anisotropic geometries, on the other. Examples and applications of V-rep GM, that span design, analysis and optimization, and AM, of lattice- and micro-structure synthesis as well as graded-heterogeneity, are demonstrated, with emphasis on AM.