SMS:Triangulation

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Scatter points or mesh nodes can be triangulated to form piecewise linear surfaces. For scattered data, these surfaces are also referred to as TINs (Triangular Irregular Networks). For mesh nodes, they form a finite element mesh. The points/nodes are connected into surfaces as scatter sets or meshes are created, but at times it may be necessary to reconnect the points (i.e. after deleting individual points/nodes or triangles/elements). New triangles are constructed in mass by triangulating a set of points when the Triangulate command from the Scatter Data menu is executed. The selected points are connected with a series of triangles. If points are not selected, then all points will be triangulated.

File:Triangulate.gif

Delaunay Criterion

The resulting triangulation satisfies the Delauney criterion. The Delauney criterion ensures that no vertex lies within the interior of any of the circumcircles of the triangles in the network as shown below:

File:Image59sms.jpg

Two Adjacent Triangles Which (a) Violate and (b) Honor the Delauney Criterion.

The result of enforcing the Delauney criterion is that long thin triangles are avoided as much as possible.

Triangulate

The vertices associated with the active scatter set can be triangulated using the Triangulate command from the Triangles menu in the Scatter Data module. To mesh nodes (either the selected nodes, or all nodes) can be triangulated using the Triangulate command from the Elements menu in the 2D Mesh module.