PREDICTOR CORRECTOR TYPE OF INTERSECTION ALGORITHM FOR C2 PARAMETRIC SURFACES

A predictor-corrector type of intersection algorithm is developed for free-form parametric surfaces with C**2 continuity. A surface-surface intersection is solved as a number of curve-surface intersections in which each of the curves is defined in the parameter space of the 'primary surface' as a straight line, passing through an initial point and pointing at an 'engaging direction'. Concepts from differential geometry are employed to predict the initial points and the engaging directions before the Newton-Raphson iterations are performed to compute the actual intersection points. The algorithm proceeds in a predictor-corrector type of way with the propagation steps controlled by the user-specified tolerance. The computer implementation of the algorithm has presented quite satisfying results.