Curve linearization and discretization for meshing composite parametric surfaces

In the context of composite parametric surface meshing using a direct or an indirect (via the meshing of parametric domains) method, the discretization of interface curves joining patches plays a central part. In the case of an indirect method, the discretization of interface curves must be taken back to parametric spaces. This is usually done using root nding techniques for generally non-linear parametric functions. This paper presents a new linearization technique to determine the above correspondence. In addition, this linearization of interface curves makes it possible to obtain their discretization without explicitly computing the arc length. This method has been implemented in a surface mesh generator and an example from Fluid Mechanics is given to illustrate the pertinence of the proposed approach. Copyright ? 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.