Volume triangulation from planar cross sections

In a CAD system, a series of sectional contours can be easily obtained from solid models of 3D objects. A new tetrahedral meshing algorithm from these series of planar cross sections is proposed. In this scheme, the planar sections of three-dimensional objects and the side surfaces between two planar sections are triangulated first, and then an advancing front algorithm is employed to construct tetrahedral elements by using basic operators. Sample meshes are constructed from a series of planar cross section and analysed using ADINA.