CONSTRAINED QUADRILATERAL MESHES OF BOUNDED SIZE

We introduce a new algorithm to convert triangular meshes of polygonal regions, with or without holes, into strictly convex quadrilateral meshes of small bounded size. Our algorithm includes all vertices of the triangular mesh in the quadrilateral mesh, but may add extra vertices (called Steiner points). We show that if the input triangular mesh has t triangles, our algorithm produces a mesh with at most [Formula: see text] quadrilaterals by adding at most t+2 Steiner points, one of which may be placed outside the triangular mesh domain. We also describe an extension of our algorithm to convert constrained triangular meshes into constrained quadrilateral ones. We show that if the input constrained triangular mesh has t triangles and its dual graph has h connected components, the resulting constrained quadrilateral mesh has at most [Formula: see text] quadrilaterals and at most t+3h Steiner points, one of which may be placed outside the triangular mesh domain. Examples of meshes generated by our algorithm, and an evaluation of the quality of these meshes with respect to a quadrilateral shape quality criterion are presented as well.