A Geometric Investigation of Layered Manufacturing: Algorithms, Software, and Fabrication

This project will investigate algorithmic solutions to several geometric problems arising in layered manufacturing, where a physical prototype of a 3D object is built directly from its computer model by orienting and slicing the model into parallel layers and manufacturing the layers successively. The problems considered include finding orientations of the model that optimize one or more design criteria (e.g., number of layers, surface finish, amount of support structures needed), and algorithms for model decomposition, packing, slicing, support generation, and computation of offsets and tool-paths. The scope of the project includes the design and analysis of efficient and practical algorithms, their implementation in software, and, furthermore, the evaluation of this software via actual fabrication of parts on a layered manufacturing machine. The project will draw upon combinatorial, algorithmic, and data structuring techniques from computational geometry. The project will also benefit considerably from the input and practical expertise of engineers at a leading company specializing in layered manufacturing, with whom a collaboration is already underway. It is expected that the proposed work will result in significant design and performance improvements in layered manufacturing and will also open up interesting new directions for research in computational geometry.