Minisurf – A minimal surface generator for finite element modeling and additive manufacturing

Meng-Ting Hsieh, Lorenzo Valdevit

2020Software Impacts52 citationsDOI Open Access PDF

Abstract

Triply periodic minimal surfaces (TPMSs) have long been studied by mathematicians but have recently garnered significant interest from the engineering community as ideal topologies for shell-based architected materials with both mechanical and functional applications. Here, we present a TPMS generator, MiniSurf. It combines surface visualization and CAD file generation (for both finite element modeling and additive manufacturing) within one single GUI. MiniSurf presently can generate 19 built-in and one user-defined triply periodic minimal surfaces based on their level-set surface approximations. Users can fully control the periodicity and precision of the generated surfaces. We show that MiniSurf can potentially be a very useful tool in designing and fabricating architected materials.

Topics & Concepts

Generator (circuit theory)CADFinite element methodSurface (topology)Minimal surfaceIdeal (ethics)Computer scienceVisualizationShell (structure)Set (abstract data type)Computational scienceTopology (electrical circuits)Engineering drawingMechanical engineeringEngineeringMathematicsGeometryStructural engineeringProgramming languagePhysicsArtificial intelligenceElectrical engineeringQuantum mechanicsPower (physics)EpistemologyPhilosophyAdvanced Materials and MechanicsComputational Geometry and Mesh GenerationCellular and Composite Structures