An Innovative Method to Model Sheet Parts as a Watertight Geometry Based on T-Spline Technology

In sheet part design the product’s initial geometric model is often used between different professional teams. Heavy work relies on the quality of the geometric model, wherein the watertightness of the model’s surfaces is an important standard to pursue. By prevailing commercial CAD software, the sheet part’s geometric models are derived from multiple trimmed NURBS surfaces, which cannot avoid the gaps between neighboring surfaces. In this paper, we propose a totally new design approach to achieve a watertight geometry for sheet part model. The main technological knowhows and experiments are offered to justify this new approach.