A step towards easy 3D Restoration: Relaxing the meshing constraints.

@inproceedings{124_durandriard,
 abstract = { Balanced restoration consists in removing the e
ects of tectonic deformations in order to retrieve
the deposition state of the current structural model. Restoration then helps validating a geodynamic
scenario, reducing structural uncertainties by testing the structural model consistency, and, given a
correct rock behavior law, evaluate retro-deformations. Most existing volume restoration methods
are based on an elastic 
nite element mechanical model. Displacements boundary conditions are set
on the top horizon and the faults borders, then an elastic model solves the restoration problem using
a 
nite element method, applied on the tetrahedral mesh. However, the conforming tetrahedral
mesh generation of the structural model is the main practical bottleneck for this 3D restoration
method. Indeed, the mesh has to be conformal to both faults and horizons, including unconformities
and onlap surfaces, which may drastically increase the number of elements and decrease the mesh
quality. Instead, we propose to embed horizons in the tetrahedral model, and to transfer the
associated boundary condition onto the neighboring nodes of the mesh. This procedure can be
applied using explicit surfaces, possibly denser than the tetrahedral mesh, or implicit surfaces.
A by-product of this new boundary condition is the speci
cation of a target geometry for the
restoration, which can be used when a model of paleotopography is available. The proposed method
is demonstrated on a typical example. },
 author = { Durand-Riard, Pauline AND Caumon, Guillaume AND Ford, Mary },
 booktitle = { Proc. 28th Gocad Meeting, Nancy },
 title = { A step towards easy 3D Restoration: Relaxing the meshing constraints. },
 year = { 2008 }
}