Mesh projection between parametric surfaces

This paper presents a new algorithm to map a given mesh over a source surface onto a target surface. This projection is determined by means of a least‐squares approximation of a transformation defined between the loops of boundary nodes of the cap surfaces in the parametric spaces. Once the new mesh is obtained on the parametric space of the target surface, it is mapped to the target surface according to its parameterization. Therefore, in contrast with the usual techniques, the developed algorithm does not require solving any root finding problem to ensure that the projected nodes are on the target surface. Finally, this projection algorithm is extended to three‐dimensional cases and included in a sweep meshing tool in order to generate the inner layers of elements in the physical space. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.