Triangulation of 3D surfaces

A simple generator of graded triangular meshes on spatial surfaces is introduced in this paper. The algorithm is based on the approximation of the surface by tensor product polynomial patches which are uniquely mappable on a planar parametric space. Each of the patches is triangulated separately in its parametric space, using modified advancing front technique allowing for generation of pre-stretched elements, and the obtained triangulation is mapped back onto the original surface. Large effort has been devoted to the treatment of singularities arising on surfaces approximated by degenerated patches.