CAE Solid Element Mesh Generation from 3D Laser Scanned Surface Point Coordinates

A 3D solid element mesh generation algorithm was newly developed. 3D surface points of global rectangular coordinates were supplied by a 3D laser scanner. The algorithm is strait forward and simple but it generates hexahedral solid elements. Then, the surface rectangular elements were generated from the solid elements. The key of the algorithm is elimination of unnecessary elements and 3D boundary surface fitting using given 3D surface point data.