Geometric Approach to Hole Segmentation and Hole Closing in 3D Volumetric Objects

Hole segmentation (or hole filling) and hole closing in 3D volumetric objects, visualised in tomographic images, has many potential applications in material science and medicine. On the other hand there is no algorithm for hole segmentation in 3D volumetric objects as from the topological point of view a hole is not a 3D set. Therefore in the paper the authors present a new, geometrical approach to hole closing and hole filling in volumetric objects. Moreover an original and efficient, flexible algorithm of hole filling for volumetric objects is presented. The algorithm has been extensively tested on various types of 3D images. Some results of the algorithm application in material science for crack propagation analysis are also presented. The paper also includes discussion of the obtained results and the algorithm properties.