Robust Solid Modeling

The use of commercial solid modelers may cause “numerical” gaps, or inconsistencies, in the model. These are manifested by conflicting information stored in the topological structure and the geometric equations. A recent NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) report indicates that such inconsistencies cause several interoperability problems in the US automobile industry, with losses of over $1 billion per year. Similarly, Boeing reports that this problem costs the company over $15 million per aircraft design. In this project, researchers are employing methods to facilitate a “graceful” conversion of these inconsistent “geometric” models to new gap-free “interval” solid models that allow robust interrogation.