3D Delaunay triangulation of non-uniform point distributions

Abstract

In view of the simplicity and the linearity of regular grid insertion, a multi-grid insertion scheme is proposed for the three-dimensional Delaunay triangulation of non-uniform point distributions by recursive application of the regular grid insertion to an arbitrary subset of the original point set. The fundamentals and difficulties of three-dimensional Delaunay triangulation of highly non-uniformly distributed points by the insertion method are reviewed. Current strategies and methods of point insertions for non-uniformly distributed spatial points are discussed. An enhanced kd-tree insertion algorithm with a specified number of points in a cell and its natural sequence derived from a sandwich insertion scheme is also presented. The regular grid insertion, the enhanced kd-tree insertion and the multi-grid insertion have been rigorously studied with benchmark non-uniform distributions of 0.4–20 million points. It is found that the kd-tree insertion is more efficient in locating the base tetrahedron, but it is also more sensitive to the triangulation of non-uniform point distributions with a large amount of conflicting elongated tetrahedra. Including the grid construction time, multi-grid insertion is the most stable and efficient for all the uniform and non-uniform point distributions tested.