ABSTRACT
This paper presents a numerical method for reconstructing freeform surface from 3D scattered measured data. A positive definite functional is formulated by introducing a smoothing factor and minimized by use of finite-element to best-fit the scattered data, and thereby C 0, C 1 or C 2 continuity surfaces are represented. The applicability of the method is illustrated by reconstructing surfaces with eight-node isoparametric element, 18 d.o.f. triangular element and second-order Hermite element, respectively. Effects of the errors and the amounts of input data on the reconstructed results are investigated.
