Yes / The prevalence of micromoulded components has steadily increased over recent years. The production of such components is extremely sensitive to a number of variables that may potentially lead to significant changes in the surface geometry, often regarded as a crucial determinant of the product¿s functionality and quality. So far, traditional large-scale quality assessment techniques have been used in micromoulding. However, these techniques are not entirely suitable for small scales . Techniques such as Atomic Force Mi- croscopy (AFM) or White Light Interferometry (WLI) have been used for obtaining full three-dimensional profiles of micromoulded components, pro- ducing large data sets that are very difficult to manage. This work presents a method of characterizing surface features of micro and nano scale based on the use of the Biharmonic equation as means of describing surface profiles whilst guaranteeing tangential (C1) continuity. Thus, the problem of rep- resenting surface features of micromoulded components from massive point clouds is transformed into a boundary-value problem, reducing the amount of data required to describe any given surface feature.The boundary conditions needed for finding a particular solution to the Biharmonic equation are extracted from the data set and the coefficients associated with a suitable analytic solution are used to describe key design parameters or geometric properties of a surface feature. Moreover, the expressions found for describ- ing key design parameters in terms of the analytic solution to the Biharmonic equation may lead to a more suitable quality assessment technique for mi- cromoulding than the criteria currently used. In summary this technique provides a means for compressing point clouds representing surface features whilst providing an analytic description of such features. The work is applicable to many other instances where surface topography is in need of efficient representation.

no / The prevalence of micromoulded components has steadily increased over recent years. The production of such components is extremely sensitive to a number of variables that may potentially lead to significant changes in the surface geometry, often regarded as a crucial determinant of the product¿s functionality and quality. So far, traditional large-scale quality assessment techniques have been used in micromoulding. However, these techniques are not entirely suitable for small scales . Techniques such as Atomic Force Mi- croscopy (AFM) or White Light Interferometry (WLI) have been used for obtaining full three-dimensional profiles of micromoulded components, pro- ducing large data sets that are very difficult to manage. This work presents a method of characterizing surface features of micro and nano scale based on the use of the Biharmonic equation as means of describing surface profiles whilst guaranteeing tangential (C1) continuity. Thus, the problem of rep- resenting surface features of micromoulded components from massive point clouds is transformed into a boundary-value problem, reducing the amount of data required to describe any given surface feature.The boundary condi- tions needed for finding a particular solution to the Biharmonic equation are extracted from the data set and the coefficients associated with a suitable analytic solution are used to describe key design parameters or geometric properties of a surface feature. Moreover, the expressions found for describ- ing key design parameters in terms of the analytic solution to the Biharmonic equation may lead to a more suitable quality assessment technique for micromoulding than the criteria currently used. In summary this technique provides a means for compressing point clouds representing surface features whilst providing an analytic description of such features. The work is applicable to many other instances where surface topography is in need of efficient representation. / EPSRC

Yes / Given a prescribed boundary of a Bezier surface we compare the Bezier surfaces generated by two different methods, i.e. the Bezier surface minimising the Biharmonic functional and the unique Bezier surface solution of the Biharmonic equation with prescribed boundary. Although often the two types of surfaces look visually the same, we show that they are indeed different. In this paper we provide a theoretical argument showing why the two types of surfaces are not always the same.

This paper discusses how a boundary-based surface fitting approach can be utilised to smoothly reconstruct a given human face where the scan data corresponding to the face is provided. In particular, the paper discusses how a solution to the Biharmonic equation can be used to set up the corresponding boundary value problem. We show how a compact explicit solution method can be utilised for efficiently solving the chosen Biharmonic equation. Thus, given the raw scan data of a 3D face, we extract a series of profile curves from the data which can then be utilised as boundary conditions to solve the Biharmonic equation. The resulting solution provides us a continuous single surface patch describing the original face.

We propose the use of Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) for shape modelling within visual cyberworlds. PDEs, especially those that are elliptic in nature, enable surface modelling to be defined as boundary-value problems. Here we show how the PDE based on the Biharmonic equation subject to suitable boundary conditions can be used for shape modelling within visual cyberworlds. We discuss an analytic solution formulation for the Biharmonic equation which allows us to define a function based geometry whereby the resulting geometry can be visualised efficiently at arbitrary levels of shape resolutions. In particular, we discuss how function based PDE surfaces can be readily integrated within VRML and X3D environments

Yes / This paper discusses how a boundary-based surface fitting approach can be utilised to smoothly reconstruct a given human face where the scan data corresponding to the face is provided. In particular, the paper discusses how a solution to the Biharmonic equation can be used to set up the corresponding boundary value problem. We show how a compact explicit solution method can be utilised for efficiently solving the chosen Biharmonic equation. Thus, given the raw scan data of a 3D face, we extract a series of profile curves from the data which can then be utilised as boundary conditions to solve the Biharmonic equation. The resulting solution provides us a continuous single surface patch describing the original face.

Thin and slender structures are widely occurring both in nature and in human creations. Clever geometries of thin structures can produce strong constructions while requiring a minimal amount of material. Computer modeling and analysis of thin and slender structures have their own set of problems, stemming from assumptions made when deriving the governing equations. This thesis deals with the derivation of numerical methods suitable for approximating solutions to problems on thin geometries. It consists of an introduction and four papers. In the first paper we introduce a thread model for use in interactive simulation. Based on a three-dimensional beam model, a corotational approach is used for interactive simulation speeds in combination with adaptive mesh resolution to maintain accuracy. In the second paper we present a family of continuous piecewise linear finite elements for thin plate problems. Patchwise reconstruction of a discontinuous piecewise quadratic deflection field allows us touse a discontinuous Galerkin method for the plate problem. Assuming a criterion on the reconstructions is fulfilled we prove a priori error estimates in energy norm and L2-norm and provide numerical results to support our findings. The third paper deals with the biharmonic equation on a surface embedded in R3. We extend theory and formalism, developed for the approximation of solutions to the Laplace-Beltrami problem on an implicitly defined surface, to also cover the biharmonic problem. A priori error estimates for a continuous/discontinuous Galerkin method is proven in energy norm and L2-norm, and we support the theoretical results by numerical convergence studies for problems on a sphere and on a torus. In the fourth paper we consider finite element modeling of curved beams in R3. We let the geometry of the beam be implicitly defined by a vector distance function. Starting from the three-dimensional equations of linear elasticity, we derive a weak formulation for a linear curved beam expressed in global coordinates. Numerical results from a finite element implementation based on these equations are compared with classical results.

The buckling of a material subject to stress is a very common phenomenon observed in mechanics. However, the observed buckling of a surface confined hydrogel due to swelling is a unique manifestation of the buckling problem. The reason for buckling is the same in all cases; there is a certain magnitude of force that once exceeded, causes the material to deform itself into a buckling mode. Exactly what that buckling mode is as well as how much force is necessary to cause buckling depends on the material properties. Taking both a finite difference and analytical approach to the problem, it is desired to obtain relationships between the material properties and the predicted buckling modes. These relationships will make it possible for a hydrogel to be designed so that the predicted amount of buckling will occur.

In this thesis, we study homogenization of optimal control problems in various oscillatory domains. Specifically, we consider four types of domains given in Figure 1 below. Figure 1: Oscillating Domains The thesis is organized into six chapters. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to our work and the rest of the thesis. The main contributions of the thesis are contained in Chapters 2-5. Chapter 6 presents the conclusions of the thesis and possible further directions. A brief description of our work (Chapters 2-5) follows: Chapter 2: Asymptotic behaviour of a fourth order boundary optimal control problem with Dirichlet boundary data posed on an oscillating domain as in Figure 1(A) is analyzed. We use the unfolding operator to study the asymptotic behavior of this problem. Chapter 3: Homogenization of a time dependent interior optimal control problem on a branched structure domain as in Figure 1(B) is studied. Here we pose control on the oscillating interior part of the domain. The analysis is carried out by appropriately defined unfolding operators suitable for this domain. The optimal control is characterized using various unfolding operators defined at each branch of every level. Chapter 4: A new unfolding operator is developed for a general oscillating domain as in Figure 1(C). Homogenization of a non-linear elliptic problem is studied using this new un-folding operator. Using this idea, homogenization of an optimal control problem on a circular oscillating domain as in Figure 1(D) is analyzed. Chapter 5: Homogenization of a non-linear optimal control problem posed on a smooth oscillating domain as in Figure 1(C) is studied using the unfolding operator.

Yes / Seeking efficient solutions to nonlinear boundary value problems is a crucial challenge in the mathematical modelling of many physical phenomena. A well-known example of this is solving the Biharmonic equation relating to numerous problems in fluid and solid mechanics. One must note that, in general, it is challenging to solve such boundary value problems due to the higher-order partial derivatives in the differential operators. An artificial neural network is thought to be an intelligent system that learns by example. Therefore, a well-posed mathematical problem can be solved using such a system. This paper describes a mesh free method based on a suitably crafted deep neural network architecture to solve a class of well-posed nonlinear boundary value problems. We show how a suitable deep neural network architecture can be constructed and trained to satisfy the associated differential operators and the boundary conditions of the nonlinear problem. To show the accuracy of our method, we have tested the solutions arising from our method against known solutions of selected boundary value problems, e.g., comparison of the solution of Biharmonic equation arising from our convolutional neural network subject to the chosen boundary conditions with the corresponding analytical/numerical solutions. Furthermore, we demonstrate the accuracy, efficiency, and applicability of our method by solving the well known thin plate problem and the Navier-Stokes equation.