Efficient geometric reconstruction of complex geological structures

Complex geological structures pose a challenge to domain discretization. Indeed data are normally given as a set of intersecting surfaces, sometimes with incomplete data, from which one has to identify the computational domain to build a mesh suited for numerical simulations. In this paper, we describe a set of tools which have been developed for this purpose. Specialized data structures have been developed to efficiently identify intersections of triangulated surfaces and to conformally include these intersections in the starting meshes, while improving the mesh quality. Then, an effective algorithm has been implemented to detect the different sub-regions forming the computational domain; this algorithm has been properly enhanced to take into account the specific characteristics involved in the simulation of geological basins.