[petsc-users] Issue: Building PLC from STL for DMPlexGenerate_Tetgen and Geometry-Aware workflows

[陈日刀]

Dear PETSc Team,

My name is Zhaoyang Chen, a senior undergraduate at Hunan University. I am
working on a meshing workflow using DMPlex and am particularly interested
in utilizing the geometry-aware features such as *DMPlexSnapToGeomModel()*
and refinement snapping.

My input data consists of *high-resolution STL triangulations*. I have
encountered a major bottleneck at the very beginning of the pipeline:
*constructing
the Piecewise Linear Complex (PLC)* from the STL to be used by
*DMPlexGenerate_Tetgen().*

Since the downstream geometry-aware operations (like
*DMPlexSnapToGeomModel()*  ) rely on a valid underlying geometry
representation, I need to resolve the PLC construction issue first.
Specifically:

   1.

   *STL to PLC Ingestion*: Is there a native or recommended pathway in
   PETSc to ingest an STL file and define it as the PLC for volume mesh
   generation?
   2.

   *Compatibility with Snapping*: If the PLC is successfully built from an
   STL, can the resulting* DMPlex* still utilize *DMPlexSnapToGeomModel()*?
   Or is the "Geometry-Aware" snapping strictly reserved for analytical B-Rep
   models (e.g., via EGADS)?

I am trying to understand if PETSc supports a workflow where a discrete
surface (STL) acts as the "GeomModel" for both initial volumetric meshing
and subsequent snapping/refinement. Any guidance on how to bridge STL data
with the DMPlex geometry-aware pipeline would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

Zhaoyang Chen

Hunan University
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