I-Corps: Algorithms and software for resolving intersection problems in computer aided design

I-Corps：用于解决计算机辅助设计中交叉问题的算法和软件

• 批准号: 1707226
• 负责人: Richard Crawford
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Austin
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-01-15 至 2017-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1707226&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Algorithms; software; resolving; intersection

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is that it allows users of Computer-Aided Design (CAD) systems to create product models that can be used directly in downstream applications. Current workflows require extensive manual repair of geometric models before they can be used for Computer-Aided Engineering/Manufacturing. Within the US automotive industry alone nearly $600M/year is spent in direct cost and lost productivity on mitigating CAD problems. Entire business units or job shops are employed to deal with this expensive problem by repairing or reworking gap-ridden geometric models. Commercializing the algorithm developed will result in improved productivity in the engineering design process, resulting in better products that are designed more quickly than is possible with current CAD technology.This I-Corps project focuses on development and commercialization of a novel software algorithm that resolves a ubiquitous problem in the Computer-Aided Design (CAD) industry, the gaps that arise at the intersections of surfaces in CAD models. The majority of modern geometric modeling relies on parametric freeform surfaces built as complex combinations of much simpler geometric shapes. However, the intersection of freeform surfaces in CAD currently results in highly approximated, incomplete solutions. The approach developed here is based on a thorough understanding of the parametric space underlying the geometry of most modern CAD models. The algorithm classifies and segments the intersection curve in parametric space, then reconstructs the intersecting surfaces such that their boundaries are guaranteed to lie on the intersection curve to the tolerance set by the user of the CAD system. The approach solves the problem in a way that produces objects in the same form as that of the original models, making them available in the modeler's native software package.

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力在于，它允许计算机辅助设计（CAD）系统的用户创建可直接用于下游应用的产品模型。当前的工作流程需要大量的手工修复几何模型，然后才能将其用于计算机辅助工程/制造。仅在美国汽车行业，每年就有近6亿美元的直接成本和生产力损失用于减轻CAD问题。整个业务单位或车间都被雇用来修复或重做充满缝隙的几何模型，以解决这个昂贵的问题。将所开发的算法商业化将提高工程设计过程的生产率，从而比目前的CAD技术更快地设计出更好的产品。这个I-Corps项目的重点是开发和商业化一种新的软件算法，该算法解决了计算机辅助设计（CAD）行业中普遍存在的问题，即CAD模型中曲面相交处出现的间隙。大多数现代几何建模依赖于参数化自由曲面，这些曲面是由更简单的几何形状组成的复杂组合。然而，在CAD中，自由曲面的相交目前导致高度近似，不完整的解决方案。这里开发的方法是基于对大多数现代CAD模型的几何结构的参数空间的透彻理解。该算法在参数化空间中对相交曲线进行分类和分割，然后重构相交曲面，使其边界在相交曲线上符合CAD系统用户设定的公差。该方法以与原始模型相同的形式生成对象的方式解决了这个问题，使它们在建模者的本地软件包中可用。