Technical Report: Virtual X-ray imaging for higher-order finite element results

TL;DR

This paper introduces a virtual X-ray imaging technique for finite element models that enhances visualization accuracy by using a hierarchical bounding box structure and discretized ray-casting without exact intersection calculations.

Contribution

It presents a novel virtual X-ray algorithm that improves visualization of finite element results with higher polynomial orders and density accuracy, using an efficient hierarchical preselection and discretized ray approach.

Findings

High-accuracy virtual X-ray images produced

Efficient element preselection with bounding boxes

No need for exact intersection calculations

Abstract

This work describes and demonstrates the operation of a virtual X-ray algorithm operating on finite-element post-processing results which allows for higher polynomial orders in geometry representation as well as density distribution. A nested hierarchy of oriented bounding boxes is used for preselecting candidate elements undergoing a ray-casting procedure. The exact intersection points of the ray with the finite element are not computed, instead the ray is discretized by a sequence of points. The element-local coordinates of each discretized point are determined using a local Newton-iteration and the resulting densities are accumulated. This procedure results in highly accurate virtual X-ray images of finite element models.