| Abstract: | Some applications require the repeated calculation of numerical values of a polyhedral function at points specified by their co-ordinates. The function is usually defined by some simple interpolation over each of the finite elements of a given mesh. A necessary step for the calculation of the value of the function at a given point is to determine to which element the point belongs. Such a determination can be efficiently accomplished by establishing a correspondence between the cells of some suitably defined regular mesh and the finite elements. Then, for each given point, the cell to which the point belongs is determined and the elements associated with that cell are inspected. This method is described and discussed in the text, and compared with two other less efficient methods with the help of numerical examples. |
