An imprint and merge algorithm incorporating geometric tolerances for conformal meshing of misaligned assemblies

A size tolerant algorithm for imprinting and merging adjacent part geometries is presented in this paper. This approach cleans up misaligned and dirty assembly geometry that is intended for conformal mesh generation. The algorithm first discretizes the boundary edges of adjacent faces into linear segments. The segments are then intersected and a partial intersection graph is calculated from the intersection results. The intersections are calculated by accounting for size tolerances to minimize the effect of misaligned parts on the meshing process. The partial intersection graph is next used to imprint the adjacent faces as appropriate. The imprints are generated using virtual geometry so that the tolerant topology created therein can be employed. Several examples are given to demonstrate the resulting improvement in the mesh quality of conformal meshes. The approach is shown to work robustly with misaligned and poorly defined parts.