Optimal development of doubly curved surfaces

This paper presents algorithms for optimal development (flattening) of a smooth continuous curved surface embedded in three-dimensional space into a planar shape. The development process is modeled by in-plane strain (stretching) from the curved surface to its planar development. The distribution of the appropriate minimum strain field is obtained by solving a constrained nonlinear programming problem. Based on the strain distribution and the coefficients of the first fundamental form of the curved surface, another unconstrained nonlinear programming problem is solved to obtain the optimal developed planar shape. The convergence and complexity properties of our algorithms are analyzed theoretically and numerically. Examples show the effectiveness of the algorithms.  2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.