Automatic Solid Reconstruction from 3-D Points Set for Flow Simulation via an Immersed Boundary Method

Dealing with complex geometries for industrial applications is challenging in computational fluid dynamic workflows. Current developments in scan devices offer the possibility to represent very complex solid geometries in fluid dynamic solvers. This paper proposes a novel approach for reconstructing solid geometry from 3-D scans and flow simulation. Based on a 3-D point cloud, the approach automatically reconstructs the solid surface by including local solid planes in any convex computational cell. An immersed boundary method is then used to impose appropriate boundary conditions on the solid surfaces in the co-located finite volume context. The present approach avoids the complex and time-consuming manual/assisted meshing typical of body-fitted mesh workflows while showing satisfactory robustness and accuracy.